![\"Kitchen](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Kitchen-Companions-1.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nby\u00a0Joan Kantor<\/p>\n
for my mother, who so joyfully shared her kitchen with me<\/em><\/p>\n My mother\u2019s been waiting for me Joan Kantor is the author of five poetry collections. She won First Place for poetry in The 2015 Writers Digest Self Published Book Awards for Fading Into Focus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413,434],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-poems","category-poems-about-mom"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nto open the small drawer beside the stove,
\nwhere smiling with anticipation,
\nI reach for the dingy-pink metal measuring spoons
\nthat once were hers.
\nThey clatter and clink,
\ntill firmly cradled in my hands,
\nthey radiate a warmth
\nthat rushes through me.
\nAs time disappears,
\nshe and I silently begin to converse
\nand proceed with preparations
\nfor a meal she\u2019ll never share.
\nShe\u2019d like me to use her crusty black cast iron pan,
\nbut I\u2019m saving its heft
\nfor the day those tiny spoons
\nwill no longer be enough
\nto stir her up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/joan-cropped-pix.jpg\")
Joan Kantor is the author of five poetry collections. She won First Place for poetry in The 2015 Writers Digest Self Published Book Awards for Fading Into Focus, a memoir focused on Alzheimer\u2019s Disease and family relationships. Her memoir, Holding It Together (a hybrid of poetry and prose) tells the story of surviving a family legacy of mental illness. Joan also took first place for poetry in The 2013 Hackney Literary Awards, has been widely published in literary journals, been a mentor and judge in the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival\u2019s Fresh Voices program, and currently performs in Stringing Words Together, a violin and poetry duo. Her most recent collection, Too Close For Comfort, was published in the summer of 2016 (Aldrich Press).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"