By Lindsay Green McManus

She can do it all in her sleep:
Sift, knead, separate,
Roll up and drop
The one inch balls.

In the other room, the baby
Is plopped in front of the television,
Picking up and dropping a small
Piece of paper, fascinated by

The slow, uneven fall,
Over and over.
She watches while her hands
move, put a fresh block
to the grater, plow her
knuckle and bone.

Lindsay Green McManus earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of South Carolina in 2007, and she currently works in academic support services at USC Aiken. She lives with her family in Lexington, SC.