SOLSTICE

Let this be the winter of removing never.

Fling it through the window into the snow

Deep among shadows

Where it belongs.

To celebrate

Set before us

Warmed wine

And that bowl of olives

Not one of them alike

Each of them

Splendid and slick

Stuffed with surprises

Salted and ready

Nearly first on the list

Of perfect delicacies for the mouth

Coming just after your kiss.

Welcome this glittering season of always.

Susan Thurston Hamerski is a writer who lives in St. Paul with her family. Her work has been published in numerous periodicals, including Minnesota Monthly, Nimrod, and Fox River Review, and in several anthologies, most recently Penchant (Heywood Press, 2007).