Thomas Zimmerman

Been thinking once again about my parents.

Dad’s old pasta pot, the one that I’ve

named Thumper, does its thing. A bag of penne

squats like Buddha on the kitchen counter.

Mahler’s on the playlist, all that beauty

overripe. I slice tomatoes a

good friend has given me, like weeping planets

in my hands. The knife’s Dad’s too.

–No it’s not. I want it to be.

So Dad liked Mom in red. She had a dress

she rarely wore. Preferred dark blue. Good dancer,

Elvis fan, she smoked two packs a day

for decades. Kisses smelled like death. I didn’t

mind. Her mother cooked for the parish 

priest. Her sister’s father was not her mother’s

husband, so a family rumor went. 

You want more clarity. So do I.


Thomas Zimmerman (he/him) teaches English, directs the Writing Center, and edits The Big Windows Review https://thebigwindowsreview.com/ at Washtenaw Community College, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. His poems have appeared recently in Beakful, Disturb the Universe, and Urtica. His latest book is Dead Man’s Quintet (Cyberwit, 2023). Website:  https:/thomaszimmerman.wordpress.com  Twitter (X): @bwr_tom   Instagram: tzman2012  Facebook: Tom.Zimmerman.315