SCRIBBLED NOTES ON THE MARGIN ON A PAGE IN A BOOK

SCRIBBLED NOTES ON THE MARGIN ON A PAGE IN A BOOK

It was a most unexpected find,
When I least expected it,
Years after my mother has passed away
And I was searching, one day,
For a recipe of hers
In her Ida Bailey Allen cookbook,
The only cookbook she ever owned
And from which I, in turn,
Learned to bake Hermits and old fashioned
Oatmeal cookies and Brownies and
Peanut butter cookies.
Scribbled notes on the margin
On a page in a book,
My mother’s handwriting –
I recognized it immediately
And felt a warm flush envelope me.
It was alongside a recipe for
Hungry Man’s cake-
The page itself stained and scorched
From being too close to the stove,
But on the margin she had written
“Pete’s favorite”
And I was like a hungry man myself,
Then, leafing through the book,
Page by page
Hoping to find more scribbled notes
On the margins of the pages
In her cookbook.
I didn’t find any more scribbled notes,
But more to the point,
What I wondered was –
Why didn’t I ever know it was
Daddy’s favorite cake?

–Sandra Lee Smith