Copyright 1959

 

My mother bought one section per week at the A&P

week by week by week

fitting each neatly into the sturdy binder

one thousand five hundred thirty-six pages

black and white illustrations galore

The Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking

Published by Homemakers Research Institute

Evanston, Illinois

 

The pages glittered with promise –

Appetizers for parties and meals

Cold quick ’n’ easies to serve on picks

Raisin Suzette, Square Dance Nut Cake,

Drawn Butter, Frangipane, Fricassee, Galantine,

a wonderland of tempting treats we never ever tried

 

The massive cookbook resided

forgotten on top of the refrigerator

save one day each December

when my mother would take it down,

open to page four hundred twenty-nine

Old-Fashioned Butter Cookies

 

The look, the scent, the crunch,

the taste of those cookies we made!

A brief flight of  magic

so quickly at  end

then back to the dust on top of the fridge

for Mary Margaret McBride

                            Kate Lydon Varley