JC Super Salt by Judy Lorenzen (SPICES & SEASONINGS Series)

JC Super Salt
by Judy Lorenzen

Sprinkling JC Super Salt
on my salad,
I think of my sister Joy’s love
for my father—
he had survived
The Great Depression,
poverty, near starvation,
several stepdads,
WW II military service—
the odds
and become a chef.
And I think of my father,
Jimmie Catholos,
who had learned the secrets
of surviving, then thriving—
a man, who in his hungry years
learned to turn a stone
into a delicious soup,
to make flavorful broths
out of meat bones,
using every herb,
every vegetable leaf,
of produce he could find,
producing a meal,
tasting of the old country.
He had secret herbs
he had blended together
throughout these years,
the most delicious briny mixture.
And Joy, always
with a heart for Dad’s past
and a business head
for what was delicious,
had his secret ingredients manufactured,
naming it after him, JC Super Salt,
and placed in stores—
to his great surprise,
a gift of love,
pouring her perfume out
on the one she loved.
And JC Super Salt
made everything better—
no matter what it was sprinkled on,
his gift of love to his daughters and customers.

Still we love it on our salads most—
with each bite, Greece comes alive
and we hear the music
and see the Sirtaki
and feel our father’s love again.

PHOTO: JC Super Salt (Photo provided by the author.)

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: My sisters (Jamey, Jackie, Jonna, Jo) and I love my father’s secret salt, JC Super Salt. Although my father died 19 years ago, my sister Joy went through all of the hard steps, following the law, to produce JC Super Salt and sell it while my father was still living. I remember how my father loved to see how much people loved his “salt.” And I remember how Joy loved making JC Super Salt a reality, especially because my father had come from nothing and because this “salt” was so delicious. Writing the narrative poem is so nostalgic for me.

AUTHOR’S PHOTO CAPTION: This photos shows my father, Jimmie Catholos, and five of his six daughters. On the left is my sister Jackie, above her, Jo, then Dad and Joy, Jamey, and me, Judy. Jonna was living out of state at the time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judy Lorenzen is a poet and writer who holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work appears in journals, anthologies, newspapers, magazines, and on calendars and websites.