Today's poem is by Liz Ahl

Preservation
       

I cover everything with brine
to make it last, to make it stay,
to make the summer harvest mine.

I strip each stem, I pluck each vine,
I wash and peel and slice away,
and cover everything with brine.

With salt and sugar I combine
some mustard seed or caraway
to make the summer harvest mine

before the autumn's dark decline.
To ward off ruin and decay,
I cover everything with brine

like salty tears. I will resign
myself to hopeful chemistry
and make the summer harvest mine.

Is it like making water wine?
Is it some other old cliché?
I cover everything with brine.

In August, when the stars align
I point and name them, far away,
their light a summer harvest, mine

and yours. I want their sharpened shine.
To make it last, to make you stay,
I cover everything with brine.
I make the summer harvest mine.

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Copyright © 2023 Liz Ahl All rights reserved
from Able Muse
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission