"heavy white bowls..."

my childhood was punctuated by
mornings filled with heavy white bowls of
hot cereal...grainy oatmeal or cream of wheat
that plopped and bubbled and simmered
on the stovetop while we set the table
with deep-bowled spoons and jelly glasses
half-full of orange juice we mixed in an
old yellow pitcher with a long wooden spoon.

on cold mornings before the school bus arrived
we held our bowls between cold hands
and let them warm us from the inside out

i liked mine with plump raisins and more
brown sugar than we were really allowed,
sprinkling it in lumpy spoonfuls from a blue-striped crock,
a pat of butter and a dash of salt...

i'd eat as slowly as I could, letting the hot bowl prepare
my small fingers for the chill of a winter morning at
the bus stop...the curve of its round warmth lingering
in the palm of my hand, like the memory of home
on a cold, rainy day at school...