Forever in Love by June Cotner

Author:June Cotner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781449465841
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Published: 2014-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

SLEEPING WITH YOU

Is there anything more wonderful?

After we have floundered

through our separate pain

we come to this, I bind myself to you,

like otters wrap in kelp, so the current

will not steal us as we sleep.

Through the night we turn together,

rocked in the shallow surf,

pebbles polished by the sea.

—ellen bass

TENTH ANNIVERSARY

Ten years ago, after the first night

we spent together,

we went to pick strawberries

knee-deep in furrows of scalloped leaves,

white flowers winking like stars.

It’s still early morning

but we’re drunk on the winy air

and the headiness of our desire.

As we kissed more than we picked,

our mouths brushed like petals

rubbing in the wind,

our crimson fingers strayed

beyond boundaries of clothing.

Stitch us in that tapestry forever,

baskets full of berries, and always in love . . .

But we had to go home,

turn the fresh fruit into preserves:

hull and cull the berries, crush them

with lemon, boil until thick

and sweet with yearning and sun.

Sealed in wax, each jar’s stained glass,

full of the light.

And when we spread this redness

on morning toast, sparks

rekindle and glow.

And now it’s ten years later.

Strawberry picking’s an annual

task I do alone, or with a friend.

I boil the jam down to the clatter

of children underfoot.

And our eyes meet over curly heads

and our hands brush like green leaves in the wind . . .

And the jam shines in its cathedral of wax,

the sweetness of early June

poured in glass jars.

On January mornings,

when love and light are memories,

these red suns

light our cellar shelf.

—barbara crooker

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