At the Market
A poem by Karen Poppy

At the Market

I rely on the good folks
In my community here,
Part of my air:
Women in purple dresses,
Men in purple dresses.
People playing guitar.
Darshano with his curly hair,
Accent Italiano.
(He drinks an espresso
And later will paint a fresco.
This all is true.)
I write poetry.
A man compliments
My sparkly shoes.

A woman carries an apple,
A good witch.
We admit to each other
That here we are,
So it can’t be all bad,
But we don’t know
How this day is going.
Not yet, not yet.

“I love you,” people say.
Strawberries and all manner
Of stone fruit glisten,
Reach their full potential
In the sunlight.
The bottle cap
On my soda pop
Says, “Be you.”

About the Author:

A non-binary poet, Karen Poppy’s debut full-length poetry collection, Diving at the Lip of the Water, is published by Beltway Editions (2023). An attorney licensed in California and Texas, Karen Poppy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. More at KarenPoppy.com

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