We are trying to guess its spices,
the small, hand-lettered
jar of preserves open on the counter.
We taste cinnamon and bits of apple –
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and standing in the old kitchen
my sweet ex cooked in I can see outside
one tattered mockingbird
stabbing the seeds of a split fig.
Tamar spreads its glop
on a heel of crust – Delicious,
she says – faint clove?
And that mimic thrush
needling for something else.
- Kevin Cantwell's most recent book is One of Those Russian Novels. He was a recipient of the James Dickey Award for poetry and is associate provost and Dean of Studies in Middle Georgia State College.
