Portside

my mother who was born in Susanville, California

prosperous logging town not far from Reno

grew up poor the daughter of Basque immigrants

whose father spent months far away in roadless

barren country herding sheep

whose apron-clad mother stood by the iron stove

prodding a soup out of one sausage

one onion and six peeled potatoes for herself

and four children

I used to watch my mother peel potatoes at the sink

holding each one carefully as she turned it

what are you making, Mom

I knew her answer: beef stew

I saw the large chunks of meat in the pot

her hands held and turned each potato

she dug out flesh around each eye

so many dismembered eyes falling into the sink

why do you cut out every one so patiently

I think of my mother she’d say

it was the way she saved as much potato as she could

Nels Goñi Christianson is a native of rural Merced County from which he draws much inspiration for his poetry. He was a board member of CalPoets from 2009-2023. A few years ago, he co-coordinated a 2-year poetry composition program which was a CalPoets/Beyond Baroque collaboration in Venice, California.