My Brother's Recipe for Mac and Cheese

by Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios

He said

it would make me famous

this dish,

made sacred

with Emmenthaler

sherry,

a whisper of nutmeg.

He said

I would be famous

and I am,

among the neighborhood

children

many years ago,

grimy and hungry from play

jostling in the kitchen

for a plateful.

I ladle the macaroni and cheese

in long sinewy strings,

pulled from the spoon,

breadcrumbs buttered and browned,

a ceiling to crack into

on an adventure

in texture and memory,

for the quiet

gray shadows

I cook for now,

the homeless

who line up silently,

and reach for a paper plate

of their childhood,

warm and golden,

then disappear

as steadily

as steam

from a boiling kettle.