by Jan Chronister
Tupperware Brands, whose name became synonymous with plastic food containers in kitchens across America, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after struggling for years with declining sales and increasing competition. —The New York Times, September 18, 2024
I was a Tupperware Lady,
stepped down in ’86,
turned in my company car
after years of demonstrating
how to burp a seal,
handing out tiny keychain bowls
to guests who brought a friend.
I worked mostly at night,
came home to sleeping children.
During the day my kids played
in giant cardboard boxes
once full of wares
that I bagged up and delivered
to the women who helped me
make a living.
One year I sold
$30,000 worth of the stuff.
It kept us in groceries,
paid the bills.
Now I have a drawer
full of incompatible
bottoms and tops
from a company no one
wants to support.
Plastic is out, parties take
too much time.
Women have better
things to do.
Jan Chronister splits her year between the far North and South. She gardens and writes poetry in both places. Her most recent book is Duluth: Zenith City & Beyond (Poetry Harbor).