Four-fifteen a.m.

I am preparing chicken salad
and white meat cools
in the colander
in the pocket of the sink
I am cutting grapes
in half
another act of love
in the den
just off the kitchen
I sit with an orange bowl
in my lap a bowl
of screaming half grapes
such panic
I have never seen before
I have never
witnessed this before so
I coo to them
my little green sacrifices
my offerings
I coo to them like
I do to babies
and I think about
the women in my life

(previously published in The Coffee Press Journal)