NUTS

Nuts –

I said nuts,

Salty, crunchy.

Home, to me, is

Where the nut jar lives.

Cocktails at 4 with my wife,

We talk about our day over

Drinks and dry roasted nuts.

When I was a kid, my father kept

A bag of nuts from the 5 & 10 in his

Coat pocket. I recognized back then

The advantage of having one’s own nuts.

Dad knew how to live. When I was 24, I was

The last one to see him alive. He died quietly, alone.

I miss him. I miss the answers he never gave me to questions

I never thought to ask. After his funeral, my mother put out a large bowl

Of nuts for the guests. Salty,crunchy nuts I’m sure my father would have loved.