Mary Angelino
Just Like Anyone
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family
is unhappy in its own way. —Tolstoy
As a little girl, I didn't want to go home.
Had to drag myself kicking and screaming
from the school bus stop to our red front door
(who always left it wide open?), where
the ways we were unhappy float back. I abstract
and watercolor my way there—to butter browning
gently on the stovetop, and the recipe book,
handed down, soft annotations flowering
the margins (I have her eyes, her laugh, her way
of stooping over, cradling yolks into flour). Here,
I can make it the reverse—in our unhappiness,
we were just like anyone who couldn't see
or smell the smoke in time to save the sweet.
Bio
Mary Angelino lives in Santa Clarita, California, where she teaches Creative Writing at College of the Canyons, her community college alma mater. Learn more about her writing life at maryangelino.com.