Corned Beef and Cabbage

By George Bilgere b. 1951 George Bilgere

I can see her in the kitchen,

Cooking up, for the hundredth time,

A little something from her

Limited Midwestern repertoire.

Cigarette going in the ashtray,

The red wine pulsing in its glass,

A warning light meaning

Everything was simmering

Just below the steel lid

Of her smile, as she boiled

The beef into submission,

Chopped her way

Through the vegetable kingdom

With the broken-handled knife

I use tonight, feeling her

Anger rising from the dark

Chambers of the head

Of cabbage I slice through,

Missing her, wanting

To chew things over

With my mother again.

Poem copyright ©2002 by George Bilgere, whose most recent book of poetry is “Haywire,” Utah State University Press, 2006. Poem reprinted from “The Good Kiss,” published by The University of Akron Press, 2002, by permission of the author and publisher.

Biography

George Bilgere (1951—) has published five collections of poetry, most recently The White Museum which was awarded the 2009 Autumn House Poetry Prize. His third book, The Good Kiss (2002), was selected by Billy Collins to win the University of Akron Poetry Award. He has won numerous awards, including the Midland Authors Award, the May Swenson Poetry Award for his collection Haywire (2006), and a Pushcart Prize. Bilgere has . . .

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