Poem G — ‘Haunting’

Happy dancers

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Better Than a Poke in the Eye with a Sharp Stick

To help my friend and colleague Queen Jane Approximately decide which of my poems to submit to publications and contests, I am posting  ten of my particular favorites — poems A through J (yes, I had to count off the letters on my fingers). I’d like your comments as we go along and, in particular, when all ten have appeared, your ranking. Which do you like best (10 points)? Least (1 point — I can’t bear the thought of getting Zero points)?

Sun-tea jar; photo by Meredith, http://modcottage.com

Dear Jane: Thank you so much for submitting work to Straylight. We would like to congratulate Mary on the acceptance of her poem “Sun Tea,” which we enjoyed very much. Several members of our editorial staff continue to be “haunted” (a direct quote!) by the lovely clarity of her language….

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Omigosh!

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Sun Tea

When I was the mother of small
children, every summer morning I made
sun tea in a gallon jar filled with clear
well water and set it near the porch, so as
to sketch the season in my memory, and
not let pass without a grateful thought
those long, warm days and small, bare
feet—reason enough, even without the
alchemy of linking the deep river with
the open sky and drinking it with lemon;
and being put in mind of how things
happen in their time, and not before it or
beyond. Reason and more, as it ought to
be; for I am inordinately drawn to children
but not particularly fond of tea.

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