November 2024
Emily Black
eblack@asrsystems.ws
eblack@asrsystems.ws
Bio Note: The second woman to graduate in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida, I enjoyed a long engineering career, and in time, blended that with a career as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. My poetry is published in numerous journals. The Lemon Light of Morning, my first book of poetry, was published by Bambaz Press in 2022 and my second poetry book, We Feed Dragons to the Moon, by the same publisher in March 2024. I wear Fire Engine Red lipstick.
Seasons of Joy
Winter’s icy breath clouds my windowpanes.
Memories flood in on smells of ChapStick,
fir trees, oranges, cinnamon, and cloves.
Soon the holiday season will be upon us, blessed
holidays filled with joy. I snuggle down in bed,
my head filled with dreamy images.
I smell turkey dressing, laced in sage, celery,
and onions, and begin to make a mental note
of groceries and menus.
Ah, the change of seasons, rotating around us
by some divine plan devised to keep us fresh
and filled with anticipation.
How well I was loved as a child, first child,
first grandchild, living in an extended-family
household.
The world has changed, but our need for love
never will diminish. Family rituals can wrap us
in warmth and instill appreciation
for that which we can share with a house full
of family and friends gathered among children
for whom we make these memories.
Yellow Foxes Fall From the Sky
Night fell and it rained bombs.
Rained hard. Mother told me
it rained gingerbread men, it rained
men on us like the dead soldiers
come home from war.
Yellow foxes rained down too, foxes
curled up like living lanterns blazing
in the night sky, blazing to light the way
back home for our gingerbread soldiers
who fell into damp floors of pine forests
or through arched groves of oaks to nestle
in deep soil between wide roots. Lemon-yellow
foxes sniffed around these graves, while we ate
warm gingerbread with thick tart-lemon sauce
in yellow lamplight before we went to bed.
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