One Tough Nut - Dec. 17, 2024

on the East Coast where I grew up

between Thanksgiving and

Christmas out would come a

wooden bowl overflowing with

un-shucked filberts pecans walnuts

and Brazil nuts

and sprawled on the little brown

boulders were a pair of hinged silver

handles – the single purpose nutcracker

which you’d slide around a shell

find the perfect breaking point and

squeeze hoping to release the pearl

unharmed for a quick pop in the mouth

that was my life then

crammed in a shell wondering who

or what could crack me open

still intact and undamaged

and it was always those Brazil nuts

that shattered into so many pieces

they were never worth picking up