Dru Philippou
“Breadline Blues”
My neighbor never lets food go to waste and ignores all warnings: use-by, freeze-by, best-by. His salami con porcini is covered in powdery white mold. Harmless, he says, prevents bacteria from invading. When it turns green, he keeps it for a few more weeks before tossing it to the ravens. Blobs of cream float in his coffee, but he insists it tastes fine. After discarding a discolored chocolate bar, I find it back inside the harvest-gold Tupperware. It has a lifespan of two years, he says. Opening his 97th birthday gift from his son, he’s careful not to rip the wrapping paper. I place a scoop of his favorite blue jello ice cream in a rose-pink glass bowl, light the candle. When I was a boy, my mother turned jello into anything we imagined.
downpour. . . the brimming oak barrel adds a bright tone
Note: “Breadline Blues” written by Bernard ‘Slim” Smith, 1931.
About the Author
Born on the island of Cyprus, Dru Philippou was raised in London, and currently lives in northern New Mexico, where hiking in the desert wilderness nourishes her spirit and her writing. Her haibun “Afterlife” won first place in the Haiku Society of America’s 2021 Haibun Awards competition. She is the author of A Place to Land, a tanka prose memoir.