LEFSE MAKING'S RED THREADS

RED THREADS OF LEFSE MAKING

          

  for Robert Sanders

This is a photo taken inside of a Lutheran Church

in rural North Dakota at the turn of the last Century.

This is the lutefisk of forgetting.

The people are gathering in the Church basement.

This is the lefse of remembering.

This is a photo of my mother

rolling everything out on the table

covered in flour. She is re-covering

all that can be rolled into cinnamon.

Mom's friend, Emmy, joins her,

they're gathering in Mom's Seattle kitchen.

Vonnie helps them rice potatoes.

Karen and Lena have driven over the pass.

The man with the lefse stick surrounds himself

with children in white aprons.  He sees

when potatoes need to be turned on the griddle.

He threads his way through each child.

These are the bakers in Mom's kitchen.

There have never been so many. 

The man counts until he loses count.

The man, who is one of the threads,

knows the lefse will feed the number

of those that can't be counted.

Jim

14 November 2019