Solstice, Shadows and Sobs

The first thing I want you to do is read this very striking poem. Then I need you to go to June 22's The Writer's Almanac and learn about the summer solstice. Read the week's poems while you're there, or let Mr. Keillor read them to you in his dulcet tones.

Thanks to Bob Sisson for mentioning this Writer's Alamanc entry (and checking if we had shadows on the summer solstice) . (And, yes, despite popular rumor, I do have one).

So, with no further ado, please read this fabulous poem.


I {Heart} My Wife

"I {Heart} My Wife"
the bumper sticker read
in the window of the pickup truck
ahead of me at the red light,
and I burst into tears
for no particular reason
I could explain
to the crossing guard on the corner
or even to the man driving the truck,
who looked quite ordinary,
and did not realize
those four happy words
could rip a woman's heart out
under certain circumstances,
when she's one man's abscessed tooth,
and another's dirty little secret.

Then I stopped to wonder,
as I blew my nose
and wiped my eyes,
whether the man had bought the bumper sticker
at all, or if his wife had perhaps
stuck it there,
in the window behind his head,
as a message to women like me,
whom she surely knows are sitting
at every red light
in every town,
wishing they could one day be
someone's
very best thing.


by Darlyn Finch, from Red Wax Rose. © Shady Lane Press, 2007.