picking the bones

making chicken soup
not quite my mother’s way
I remember the women sitting in her kitchen
munching on boiled chicken feet
and sucking marrow out of other cooked bones

her friends were younger than I am now
but they seemed like old women to me then
it’s all in perspective

where are the chicken feet now?
hard to find in a supermarket
but an asian market stocks them
along with tongue and other exotic foods

I rarely buy these now
preferring mostly vegetarian recipes
but when holidays come
I still cook mother’s soup
complete with giblets, fennel
and matzah balls

copyright 2006 Linda H. Feinberg

Just a note -- Passover is coming and I bought Matzah along with other goodies for our seder while at the grocery store last night. It made me think of this poem.