Grandma Allen

Her arms were supple and reminded me of

the soft bread dough I pinched as it swelled

 

in her kitchen. She pressed butter-covered

marshmallows and rice into teddy bear molds I can

 

still taste, and nothing now compares. Colorful jars

adorned her kitchen countertop, bottled pears

 

of pink, of green, of blue. She claimed color

made them taste better, but I still despised the grit.

 

Her trinkets enchanted me. She told me

they forgot to give her ragdolls faces. Her

 

television glowed from down the hall, as the pretty lady

dropped blood on the snow and named her

 

baby Snow White. She let me open a special suitcase

to dress antique Barbie, until I left her out once

 

and she was gone.