Cuppa

Old elderberries still perfume the tea
with the bite of sun and rain and near misses.
Wrinkled with a seed full of strychnine, elderberries
rattle in my tea jar - perfect purple raisins that
dry rattle, that crunch as the stirrer snaps shut.
After the first frost, after a summer of drying on
cloth, after the wet rag wipes the stove clean,
take the cup to the table, let it sit a very long time,
if you are lucky, you will brew sweeter memories.

news from a small town 5, January 2013