PERSON Poem: APPLES AND POTATOES (FOR VERA ESTELLE), by Gina Lee

I didn’t think about it much then
But I do now understand

The precision with which my
Grandmother could skin

Apples and potatoes
Such serene cool about her face

Not a line in the skin reminiscent
Of a frown, nothing in the eyes

Twinkled a smile
Her tiny fingers never slipped

Steady in their journey
Never wasting apple or potato

Only skinning what was necessary
When I’m fumbling a knife around

An apple staring out into my backyard
(My lack of rigor reminds me that

My hardships are nothing to hers)
I do think about

Our lives as parallel
Or as derailed synonyms

As a little girl I didn’t think about it much
But as a woman, I do now know

What my grandmother was thinking
When she skinned with such precision