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Portrait of Dad at the Cutting Board

June 17, 2021 by M. Christine Benner Dixon

Portrait of Dad at the Cutting Board 

Every morning 
a loaf of bread—  
the first brown slice  
toppled inside its  
plastic sleeve. 
Knife upright in the 
peanut butter—as 
righteous as Moses— 
spoon in the Concord jelly. 

By lunchtime, 
sanctuary of the day, the 
sandwiches were soft— 
the bread, grape-crystalized, 
the peanut butter dry— 
familiar to us 
as the blessing melody. 
There was a quarter 
taped to the lid 
of the lunchbox 
because he loved us 
and ice cream sandwiches. 

Every morning— 
because he loved us, 
because our faces, 
counter-height and  
still round with sleep, 
willed him there 
by looking. 
Every morning— 
silvered hair soft 
and finger-swept, 
licking jelly from 
his thumb. 
Every morning 
he fed his children 
before they were 
hungry. 

Editor’s note: M. Christine Benner Dixon’s poem is an intimate portrait of her father, retired pastor, David Benner, remembered from childhood. She writes: “My father has been many things in his life, from carpenter to tow-truck driver to Mennonite pastor to business manager. I feel like I can only capture little slivers of him in my writing. This particular sliver reflects the tenderness he had towards his five children. The sight of him at the cutting board every morning, making our PB&Js and slipping little treats into our lunchboxes, was so regular that it became ritual. It was the kind of faithfulness that turned the mundane into the sacred.” 


This poem is used by permission and originally appeared in The Dewdrop in May 2021. 

Filed Under: Archive

M. Christine Benner Dixon

M. Christine Benner Dixon lives, writes, and grows things in Pittsburgh, PA. Working in both prose and poetry, her writing has appeared in SLICE Magazine, Fearsome Critters: A Millennial Arts Journal, Vastarien: A Literary Journal, HeartWood Literary Magazine, pacificREVIEW: A West Coast Arts Review Annual, Paperbark Literary Magazine, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and elsewhere.

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