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Thursday, May. 08, 2008

Mom Heroes poem: 'My mother and the crab'

Our traditions, every Saturday

is the Yu Yu Asian Market

just me and her

This time live crabs

squirm and froth

in a cardboard box in the back of the store

My favorite, crab

Chinese style

soy sauce

your bare hands and your teeth

She prepares to lunge

into battle

pulling on battered gloves

She nimbly pokes and prods

in between

snapping claws and pinching pincers

Only the biggest, the strongest, the tastiest

for my daughter

A shriek of pain

rings through the store

a belligerent crab grabs a hold of

my mother's right pinky

”Ai-yah!“

she tosses the offender away

to examine her finger

No harm done

She confidently grabs the little guy

And sticks him in her brown paper bag

A crab is no match for my mother.