local_library Maple Syrup

by Patricia Miranda

Published in Issue No. 233 ~ October, 2016

On the western windowsill,

my daughter has arranged four

small bottles. “I like the sound

of ‘syrup,’” she says, her voice

a loveliness too. Stoppered

 

with cork, how easy to catch

life that quickens in a stand

of trees, ‘wakening in the cold

of March to sweeten our tongues

as we struggle to recall

 

how to speak spring. My eyes hold

my long-limbered girl as she drifts

out the door, but inside,

I wish for the winter’s freeze

to stay that spring of sweetness.

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From August through May, I teach high school English. From June through August, I grow too many tomato plants in my zone 6a garden. Every day, I write—a little more, a little less—the trying being the real measure. Other poems of mine are forthcoming in DASH Literary Journal and The Literary Nest.