The time to seek out strawberries
is when the sunlight follows you
like a puppy, eager to sniff out
patches of wild strawberries
as plump as a thumb. Sweeter
than sugar they must be, or the jam
produced will be bitter like winter rain.
Ignore any green or jaundice-yellow.
Pluck handfuls. Taste frequently
to journey you back to childhood.
Save some for the fawns and foxes.
Share some of your harvest
to connect everyone with a memory
the first taste leads to: two hearts
slipping into each other, one hand
on the other, a lifetime of love ripening
like the strawberry plants.
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Strawberry Season
by Christian Ward
Bio: Christian Ward is a UK-based writer who has recently appeared in the Rappahannock Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Dewdrop, Dodging the Rain, Wild Greens, Mad Swirl, DipityLiterary Magazine, Impspired, and Streetcake Magazine.
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