Annette, I might indent lines. I’m not sure. Not sure of the ending either. I am also including the recipe it pairs with. All the titles of the poems will come from the recipe’s directions. At least that’s the plan so far.

That summer my grandmother boiled a ham bone.

I trailed after my favorite cousin,
the middle son of my mother’s sister.

The smell of salty meat drifted down the stairs.

I reached a hand inside the pool table
and pushed a hidden lever.

My Brabantine grandmother had a laugh
like three tomorrows.

I believed other grandmothers owned other taverns.

The balls rolled out into the player’s tray.

My cousin broke the balls, and they scattered,
spinning on the green felt.

My mother and aunt helped serve
behind the bar, tilting glasses to create foam.

Grandmother sat at the bar, elbowing the regulars.
She drank tap beer with ice.

Mother knew somebody who knew somebody.

My sister put a slug in the jukebox, dropping a record —
C5 “Little Green Apples.”

My cousin scratched. He understood exactly
the mechanics of trajectory.

There was more in the pot.

My cousin shrugged in his eyes.

I could win, and he didn’t need
to beat it out of me.

The jukebox clunked to the next selection —
D1 "The Twist."

My sisters, cousins and I shimmied
on the square-tiled dance floor.

Come on, Baby.

Grandmother slid off her bar stool.

Mother and aunt, too.

No one could resist Chubby Checker.

I only had a scrap of memory of my grandfather.

Grandmother lived alone above the tavern.

The tavern was named after her — Rosemary's.

She kept an herb garden in the patch of land
between the tavern and the church,

where both my mother and aunt were married.

Grandmother shared her recipes,
stirring the pot on two levels.

Boiled Dinner

Ingredients

2 pound bone-in ham
3 large carrots, cut into 2 inch lengths
4 large red potatoes, cubed
6 cloves garlic
6 peppercorns
½ head cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, as needed

Directions

Place ham flat-side down over a bed of carrots and red potatoes in a dutch oven. Drop the garlic and peppercorns in and place the cabbage wedges over the turkey ham. Pour enough chicken broth to cover.

Boil on the stove for three to four hours, cooking until vegetables are tender and ham breaks apart.

Serve with a splash of vinegar on the cabbage.