My Father’s Late-Night Suppers--By Joan Leotta--United States

My Father’s Late-Night Suppers

My father often worked late,

arriving home near midnight

to a late supper of poached eggs

in tomato sauce,

or fried eggs and peppers.

I sat by him at the yellow

Formica slice

that was our kitchen table

to spill out my day to him

while he ate. I sampled his

supper—liking it because he liked it.

On warm summer

nights, after his late supper,

he scooped small bowls of ice cream

for himself, my mom and me and

out on the back porch

we ate and talked while watching stars.

Joan Leotta is a writer and story performer. She writes and tells to show the beauty and importance of ordinary moments, ordinary people –living in ordinary and extraordinary times.