Tomato Sauce 

Nadia Farjami

it began with a jar of tomato sauce, 

with forgetting her favorite brand; 

was it Barilla or Newman’s Own?

something plucked 

her 

memory off

the vines in her brain;

something skinned 

her scrapbook, 

made it sour

perhaps it was dawn 

that dissolved her details, 

or maybe even god 

that got ahold of her

glands and stuffed

them inside a 

genie’s bottle

soon, her mind will lose

the sizzle of

hash browns on the stove &

the succulence of

hemingway’s words on paper 

soon,

the sentences inside 

her brain will

become blistered

& acidic 

but for now, 

it’s only 

a jar of tomato sauce