Comfort Food

Betsy Joseph

August 4, 2024

If a pandemic can offer a silver lining,

for me it would be this:

the Sunday ritual created

for our family of five who

gathered, observed safety measures,

and broke bread together.

Each weekly meal revolved around

a rotation of comforting favorites

such as pot roast, pork tenderloin, chicken pesto pasta

and always concluded with something sweet—

a small effort to counter the sorrow and frustration

which predictably rose, our anxiety heightened,

especially that first year.

This anticipated ritual kept us balanced

as we shifted to disposable products

and managed to maintain social distance

while delighting in the savory and sweet

and hugging with words.

Betsy Joseph lives in Dallas and has poems that have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry books published by Lamar University Literary Press: Only So Many Autumns (2019) and most recently, Relatively Speaking (2022), a collaborative collection with her brother, poet Chip Dameron. In addition, she and her husband, photographer Bruce Jordan, have produced two books, Benches and Lighthouses, which pair her haiku with his black and white photography.