The Taste of Jam     

by Jacqueline Jules


After he died,
so many small joys
marched away
like a line of ants
disappearing
down a tiny hole.

I forgot how much
we both liked
strawberry jam.

Its bright red color.
Its seedy taste on toast.

This morning, absently licking
my sticky thumb
I suddenly realized
how long it had been since
I’d tasted anything sweet.

How long since the kitchen
smelled of onions fried in butter.

Or I looked out the back window
and admired the black-eyed daisies
he planted in the yard.


* * * * *

Jacqueline Jules is the author of Manna in the Morning (Kelsay Books, 2021) and Itzhak Perlman's Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her poetry has appeared in over 100 publications including The Sunlight Press, Gyroscope Review, and One Art. She is also the author of two poetry books for young readers, Tag Your Dreams: Poems of Play and Persistence. (Albert Whitman, 2020) and Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember (Bushel & Peck, 2023). Visit  www.jacquelinejules.com