Issue No. 6: Food, Nutrition, and Access in Our Communities
Words - Kristen Jeré

one 2 p.m./ over muscadines/ chestnut praline ice cream/ & walnuts/ half cracked/ the 
cream/ spilling over/ the plastic table cloth/ & drips down to our denim/ covered laps/ 
my granddaddy talks about renewal/ how to make the used land/ new/ how to make the 
stolen/ free again/ with some fertilizer/ hard work/ love for what he does/ or did/ his 
back still bends/ like he’s hunched over/ a lawnmower/ though he stopped/ years ago/ 
working on that/ northern grass/ that blue green grass/ that shines/ & gets littered/ with 
dandelion fluff in the summer/ is good for flowers/ like posies/ & daisies/ & all types of 
roses/ planted just so/ he remembers/ with glassy shadow/ of his aging corneas/ turned 
baby blue/ like Chicago sky/ in July or mid-June/ the Southern crabgrass/ like sand 
paper in texture/ dried/ by too many/ 90 degree summers/ sturdy enough/ to plant 
walnut trees/ or/ 6 feet tall/ sugar cane watered/ with humidity only/ that shade of green 
so dark/ it bursts with light/ can bring anything to life/ it’s so fertile/ my granddaddy 
says

See 
that northern grass 
don’t need nothin’ 
but a lil’ 
tendin’ to 
& it’ll shine. 
but that Southern 
crabgrass 
now it 
can grow some thangs