Strawberry picking season
would come and go each year;
I helped my mother collect
several baskets full
for weeks we would enjoy
strawberry shortcakes with cream
canned strawberry jam,
months before the next
strawberry picking season
for days our home
would smell of fruit,
our fingers red and sticky
from pulling off the stems
our tongues red
as we ate strawberries
in the open
and in secret
heartbroken when the season ended.
—Emma Kathryn Harris
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