I’m happy to share my poem, ‘Grandma’s cooking,’ published by Spillwords Press. I had written the poem for the prompt ‘Kitchen spices’ in April. But, The poem is written in memory of my grandma, whom I fondly called, ‘Amma’. It will be 2 years since she passed away as of September 8th.

Here’s an excerpt of the poem-

The first time I tried to cook, I stared at my fingers
Then, I conjured Amma up- she in her starched cotton sari
Sitting on the kottemane* her sari raised to the knee
Her legs parted on either side of the oralu kallu*

Mamma cooked well
But I liked Amma’s better
So what if she made only the local cuisine
Unlike Mamma, who could whip up a multicuisine feast at the drop of a hat.

Mamma never let me in; she told me I got in the way
But Amma, she let me watch her.
As she conjured up a meal
She looked like she were dancing-

the way she emptied a plate full of grated coconut

*kotamane- a low wooden seat

To read the complete poem, please click here.

If you like the poem, please click on the heart icon on the Spillwordds site (it’s at the top left-hand corner just above the poem’s title).

Note: the meanings of the words in italics are given just below the poem in the link.

Do share the images that this poem conjures up for you in the comments. I would love to know.

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