Family Dinner Time (Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 9)

My mother used to keep spaghetti
Warm on a hot plate heated by a candle
She’d mix in the sauce and mix it in a bowl
And place the bowl in the frame
And then light the candle
We ate dinner as a family
We listened to the news on the radio as we ate
Every night was a meal designated for that night
One night was meat night and it could be beef
Or lamb or whatever my parents could afford
Another night was chicken a la king night
Where we ate chicken in goop
On either white bread or rice
Another night was spaghetti night
My father used to mash his peas into
His potatoes as he didn’t really like peas
He was not big into vegetables
Though his parents used to own a fruit
And vegetable store
He taught his father that tomatoes
Were fruits not vegetables
I’ve learned since then that there are
Many what we call vegetables that are really fruits
My mother did her best to cook dinner
My father usually made breakfast
And his trick was that he would cook the eggs
Using the toaster timer
So the eggs would be ready at the same time as the toast
My parents did not really like food very much
They had no curiosity about food
And would not eat anything they were unfamiliar with
But my mother had this contraption
That was a kind of hot plate
That she used to keep the spaghetti warm
Heated by a candle
After she put the sauce in, whatever sauce was on sale that week.
My father hated it and would yell at me
If I had changed the station on the radio
In the kitchen
And didn’t change it back
As he was not very good at tuning the radio
That was before the radios were push button.
My mother heated spaghetti and discounted sauce – with a candle.