Dana Walrath: Sosi

Day 19, Gerger Mountain

Sosi

Opening the seams each day

for the food sewn inside by Mama

brings us close to her.

The imagined wrists,

the hem,

the two sides that come together in front,

surrounding me like Mama’s arms.

The seams of the collar like her necklace,

filled with apricot flesh dried

and bitter nuts taken

from inside hard wrinkled pits

together on our roof

last summer.

I let the cracked wheat

from the hem

soften in my mouth

for hours

while we walk

and walk.

I never want to eat that last bite

from Mama.

Excerpt copyright © 2014 by Dana Walrath. Published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York