At Mount Carmel
by Susan Zenker
She wants a poem that fills
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!a glass baking dish
crusted to the rim
with green granny apples
maple syrup
cinnamon sticks
orange rind.
She wants a poem that satisfies
as an iced berry tea
frosted to the brim
with sweet lemon wine
and tart nectarines.
She wants a poem to enlighten–
like a child’s eyes
observing a swallowtail
for the very first time
effortlessly knowing what God is
and what peace feels like.
She wants a poem that can
raise factory workers
from the dead, her Teresita
standing at this fence
gazing at November’s moon
angelic and golden, healing.
Her sister dressed and fed,
any place where the twin cities’
regrets condense, vanish like dew
on morning blades of grass
and barefoot the two of them
trample death’s surprise
holding hands and dancing.
(previously published in the online journal Strong Verse)
(photo from Pixabay)