The winter wasn’t that long, really–
forty years, you say? Forget it.
Move on to spring.
We’ve grown with these boulders
since they were pebbles pushing the earth,
gaining substance to challenge the sun.
Plastic palms sweat in fear of our return.
Cloth fern leaves curl and brown.
Wax roses melt, crying themselves into candles.
We’ll tunnel up by the Queen Anne cherry tree.
I promise you won’t be bored. Hang on
to those hard pits!
Demeter’s door slammed in our face
is a gift. We can be our own gods, now.
We have this one season.
Sara Backer’s poems have been published in over 100 journals, most recently in Wolf Willow Journal, Mobius: A Journal of Social Change, Turtle Island Quarterly, and The Rialto. More are forthcoming in Arc Poetry, Crab Creek Review, Gargoyle, and Carve. This year, she won prizes in the Gemini Poetry Open contest and Avalon Literary Review. For links to her writing online, visit my web site at www.sarabacker.com.
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