houses with butter & the mother's almanac II

on the floor of the upstairs bathroom
The Mother's Almanac II lays splayed open 
like a fat butterfly, wings thick with 
advice on the "challenges and changes
of the school years." the book is yellow-toothed
like the butter on your family's table.
we didn't use butter in my house so i
always thought of the substance as alien,
melty in the metal dish. through high school
i picked up The Mother's Almanac II on occasion
before taking a shower or washing my face.
the children on the cover had stick-people
arms & legs-- one riding a bike & another
jumping rope. to the left was one girl with
wild red hair. i would hope to find something
of insight about what my mother was trying to
do with us. i would think to myself that
the answers could be right beneath the pages.
the book was divided into the segments of our
being "The Mind" "The Body" "The Spirit."
a kind of growing-up sacrament. we made holy
with the Smart Balance margarine on
wheat bread, a table spoon in the pasta,
baked into spritz cookies in december.
you said it was weird that we never used butter
but i feel comforted by the green & yellow &
white tub on the top shelf of the refrigerator. 
i usually gave up pretty quickly on 
my search in the book, coming up with nothing
of concrete importance. there was nothing
in the book about homosexuality but it did 
say that you should talk to your children
casually about sex, a few times a year 
would be best, no in one big "the talk."
i found this most striking because we 
never really talked about sex, not once.
the closest we got was when mom explained 
where the pads were in the downstairs bathroom.
i makes me think now about what purpose the book
served for my mom-- i she read it for comfort
or for advice, conjuring the soothing 
voice of on mother to another to stand in 
the steam ridden bathroom while she took a bath.
the butter would melt in there. you wouldn't
understand though, your family puts
too much butter on vegetables. my mom usually
cooks everything with a tablespoon of 
of olive oil, a pinch of salt, or a spoon 
of margarine from the yellow & green & white tub.