This was written before JJ posted "Hippy Chick", changing everything.
CALAMITY JANE
Tell me about the last best berry
fat and red and unashamed
you plucked warm from the sun
with trembling fingertips
and how you licked your lips
and placed it in your mouth
just so.
Tell me of the moment
when, for your pleasure,
you bore down hard,
releasing the earthy essence,
tart and sweet as late summertime
that lingered on your tongue
as you swallowed
deeply, satisfied.
Tell me, Jane, did you sigh then
with loss, with contentment,
with grateful amazed clarity
that even a strawberry
can be crazy in love with you?
Life is a brutal beast, a bully, a brat.
And yet in all its arbitrary calamities
it delivers grace notes here and there,
because that is how it happens to be.
Tell me you know, dear sister
and hold on tight to life
There are more berries coming.
Dear sister, hold on.