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
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