For forty years or so at Christmas
my father would make abalone salad
or that’s what it started as
before abalone became endangered
and we had to replace it
with “abalone-type shellfish”
Concholepas concholepas
until they too nearly went extinct
and we switched to conch or scungilli
or mysterious Korean mollusks.
He never used the canned jalapeños
the recipe called for
replacing them with whatever
looked good in the store
and had properly festive colors.
He’d slice and chop and mix, squeeze lemons
grind just enough black pepper
until it smelled right—
then left it for a day so the
flavors could develop.
It’s my job now that he is gone.
I found conch this year
a pricey can, but beautiful.
I sliced and chopped
reading and ignoring the recipe
olfactory memory guiding my hands
eyes judging proportions through tears
my whims choosing the peppers.
I don’t feel alone in the kitchen
though no one else is there.
I grind the pepper, give the colorful mess a stir
and forty years of memories tell me
it smells right.
I place it in the refrigerator niche
and await the transubstantiation
and the arrival of Christmas.
A natural history photo editor by day, John Kaprielian has been cooking for 50 years and writing poetry for over 40. His father, Walter, wrote and illustrated the acclaimed “Captain’s Cookbook” which contains the recipe referenced in the poem. In 2012 he challenged himself to write a poem a day for a year and published them in a book, “366 Poems: My Year in Verse.” His poems have been published in The Blue Mountain Review, Down in the Dirt Magazine, New Verse News, Naturewriting.com, The Blue Nib, and Minute Magazine. He lives in Putnam County, NY with his wife, teenage son, and assorted pets.
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