STRAWBERRY SEASON -poetry by guest author Christian Ward

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.