when i was young
ammi packed me lunch
one strawberry jam sandwich
cut neatly into squares
as i grew older
and my tummy much bigger
(along with my appetite)
one turned into two
two to three
and finally
for some unknown reason
there were no strawberry jam sandwiches
but ammi still packed me lunch
it was tuna or chicken
maybe tomato and cheese
sometimes a pastry
i wasn't hard to please
and it never occurred to me
that my strawberry sandwiches
were gone
till one completely random day
i'm sitting with my friends
taking the first bite of my sandwich
a burst of strawberry fills my mouth
sweet, rich with sugar
it tastes red, good bright red
my strawberry jam sandwich came back
and i was bombarded by my childhood
playing on the swings sandwich in hand
red coated crumbs dotting my shirt
running out of class as soon as the bell rings
to munch munch munch
on my strawberry sandwiches
strawberry jam was never my favourite filling
but it filled me with memories
so occasionlly
when i'm feeling nostalgic
i'll pick up a slice, butter it up
spread my gooey, red friend
and share a sandwich with ammi.
I think that culture plays a huge part in any sort of creative work, in this case I decided not to use 'mom/mum' but 'ammi' which means mother in my language.
Something I remembered and wanted to share because I was eating strawberry jam with crackers just now.
Hope you enjoyed :)
'ammi' pronounced 'uhmmi'