Second Passover without Joe

I piled cucumber peels
in the compost bin
with gnats, grapefruit rinds,
and cardboard egg cartons.

Grandma peeled cucumbers,
sliced onions, mixed dill,
sour cream, a little vinegar –
a salad for Saturday’s Seder.

Mom seared brisket in onion and oil,
boiled two kinds of potatoes,
and made a roux with flour
for the orange rutabaga on the stove.

I chilled matzo meal and egg,
wrapped the Afikomen in white cloth;
placed the Haggadah by China plates,
only for Passover, from Great Grandma.

And the three planks of matzo
I set at a different head of table –
opposite mountains, a curved road,
and purple flowers growing in the wine barrels.