The Farmer's Wife

(In memory of Masako)

    by Laura Blatt

She sold tomatoes, corn and peppers

       From the wooden stand

By their Fresno farm,

      Surrounded by melon fields

And orange groves.

Apt at the calculator,

      She figured out profits,

No matter how meager.

In winter,

       She wore wool checkered shirts.

In summer,

      A light blouse sufficed

In the intense Central Valley heat.

By day

      She hoisted crates of produce

      And soothed customers.

In late evening,

      She walked with her husband

      By the irrigation canals.

She could tie a kid’s shoes,

      Tell a good story,

      Or just listen.

She collected

      Family photos,

      Figurines,

      Shelves of books,

And laughed at the clutter.

She survived

      Sickness,

      The Depression,

      The internment camp at Tule Lake;

And raised four children,

       Who became doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs.

At eighty-three,

       She died well loved,

       But not yet famous.

© 2011 Laura Blatt

Laura Blatt has worked as a laboratory technician, an editor and manager at Wolters Kluwer publishing company (formerly CCH), and as a website writer.  She is a member of the California bar and also has a Masters degree in Biology.  Her writing has appeared in Tiny Lights, California Explorer, and the 2010 edition of Vintage Voices.