Celeste Snowber: In praise of the kitchen-studio

she created beauty
in strife, aftermath
of genocide, she
escaped but the
heart does not cease
to know the lament
of the forefathers
and foremothers
of the old country

at eleven she made
paper roses, and
sold them in Cambridge, Mass
brought the reapings
to her family

at seventy-three, the year
before her death, she still
was bringing flowers to life
after my father died -
nothing could stop her
arranging living petals
into modern art

our kitchen was
transformed into an
art studio, either
cooking with color
or creating color
through sculptural
objects and plant life

I have kept the tradition
of my artist-mother
knocked out a wall
in my kitchen/dining area
and put a wooden floor in
it doubles as a dance
studio, torso ecstatic

kitchens are places
of love: creating food, art,
dance, exchange of hearts
through flesh
and always, always
there shall be flowers

there is strife too in kitchens -
tears and conflict
but connections usually
win out, the ripeness
of beauty over a life-time

we are made and
re-made in the
kitchen-studio
colors of soul
brought to brilliance
in ordinary living.