One might reasonably wonder about the origin story here… I was making dinner last night and helping someone with English at the same time. She asked what we were having… I replied “Something different! We’re having ‘picnic.’ ” Brats, cole slaw, potato chips, and as a nod to the falling snow, roasted carrots instead of carrot sticks.

And then I cut the carrots and poetry filled the kitchen.

Zanahoria Means Carrot

Zanahoria means carrot
means eye of the earth means
corona of the sun and crown
of the roots that speak
of the wonders of God
long into winter when
other proclamations
han dejado la palabra al
silencio invernal; un silencio
of hoping and of waiting,
biding time until the greening;
To hope and to wait…a single verb.
Esperar.

Kimberly M. King