Little Yellow Pot by Emily Bernhardt (SPICES & SEASONINGS Series)

Little Yellow Pot
by Emily Bernhardt

I cried as I unwrapped
the little yellow pot

holding
two cups of emptiness,
its molded yellow handle
once nested in your small hand.

Its rusted scar evidence
as decommissioned,
yet the pot survived,
stowed away, sent to me.

I scried backwards from
the little yellow pot

Mum?
intent, measuring
butter, sugar, cocoa,
a dash of salt,
considering,
how much would taste good.

I tried
that I could potion from
the little yellow pot
your apparition
for a chat.

PHOTO:  Heart-shaped steam above a yellow pot by Stockcreations.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: My mother, deceased in 2021, was a wonderful cook with a fantastic collection of spices. In this poem I am remembering her making hot chocolate from scratch in her old Le Creuset. We would stand in the kitchen chattering on about people, plants, nothing very important or significant. My brother sent the pot to me after she died.

PHOTO: The Le Creuset pot that the author inherited from her mother. Photo by the author.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Emily Bernhardt is a rarely published poet living in Ventura, California.