Pinwheel Sandwiches by Terri Kirby Erickson

Many years ago, while traveling, we stopped
at a Kroger in Connecticut. We bought a tray

of pinwheel sandwiches rolled in flour tortillas
and filled with thin layers of medium-rare roast

beef and mayonnaise, perhaps a bit of lettuce
as I recall, and provolone cheese, sliced in bite-

sized rounds. We ate them in the car, watching
people pull into parking spots and head into the

the store, others pushing buggies brimming with
bags of groceries. And I must admit my husband

and I have eaten delightful lunches all over the
world, some prepared by the finest chefs—meals,

even in Paris, that I have mostly forgotten. But
I can still taste those pinwheel sandwiches, how

cold and refreshing they were on a warm day—
how much better I felt when my hunger was so

deliciously assuaged before we eased into traffic,

my husband’s hands on the steering wheel, the

two of us facing forward as if time would never
chase us down, our future brighter than the sun.



Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of eight collections of poetry, including The Light That Follows Us Home, which will be released by Press 53 in the Fall. Her work has been widely published and has won numerous awards, including the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize and International Book Award for Poetry.