Blueberry Brain

By Genevieve Seow

when i was a kid

my ah ma would make the most delicious 

blueberry pies

i would sit by her at the dinner table

watching her cool down the pie

she'd cut me a slice and she'd say

ah girl, eat this blueberry pie

you'll be smart!

your brain will become a blueberry!

when i was a kid

i didn't want my brain to be a

blueberry

or maybe i did

so i kept eating blueberry pie

when i grew older

i tried to learn ah ma's blueberry pie recipe 

i'd tell myself

my brain is a blueberry

so surely

i'm smart enough to make this pie

but when i try

it all collapses

too soft

too soon

not like ah ma's

those blueberries were all

perfect little spheres

my kids always left

my blueberry pie

half eaten

when i became an ah ma

i'd try making blueberry pie for

my grandkids

i'd tell them 

what my ah ma used to tell me

ah girl

eat the blueberries

you'll become smart

your brain will be a blueberry

like mine

my grandkids stopped

asking for a slice

at all

and then my grandkids

they became parents

and their kids

they had kids

so i became a great grand ah ma

with my blueberry brain

and i'd try to make blueberry pie

but the blueberries always

turn out mushy

i'd still cut them all a slice each

eat the blueberries

you'll be smart

your brain will become a blueberry

my kids

my grandkids

their kids

they'd all say

ah ma

stop giving us your blueberry pie

and no one wants a blueberry brain

not when they're mushy and rotten

like those in your pie

after all that time

i'd have given up on the

blueberry pies

the blueberries always end up 

much too ripe anyway

their sweetness rots before the pie is done

they stain everything purple 

and

my blueberry brain

bleeds through the crust

of my skull

By Genevieve Seow