one year ago

the same mason jar gets filled each visit home

with my mother’s delicious red sauce

meatballs made with ground pork

ground by the butcher in the deli section

a dying art he says.

impressed her 80 year old seamstress hands

still has the power to make them from scratch

the mason jar makes its journey to my mother’s

suburban south jersey home

once per month now

her mind forgets the last time i was there

telling me i don’t come often enough

telling me that i keep taking all her mason jars

asking me to bring them home to her

not to wait this long to return.