In my aunt’s velvet covered chair,
I paddle away (a diet I whisper) from
double cream hot fudge ripple.
From the steady kitchen cassette deck, our favorite
Peter, Paul, and Mary as she blends for me
last summer’s frozen
blackberries with saccharine.
A pale purple slush melts
in the hollows of my cheeks.
When her back would give out,
she’d call the firefighters,
who’d come joking, tender, with moves
as sweet as August.
Our ice cream won’t leave us
without the crunch of crystals. Saccharine is
three hundred times sweeter than sugar.
Think of that power, my aunt with her hands
steady on the tow rope
she cast into my river.
The Sweetness that Stays
Deborah Bacharach is the author of Shake & Tremor (Grayson Books, 2021) and After I Stop Lying (Cherry Grove Collections, 2015). Her poems, essays and book reviews have been published in Midwest Quarterly, Poetry Ireland Review, Vallum, Cimarron Review, New Letters and Poet Lore among many others. She has received three Pushcart prize nominations and a Pushcart prize honorable mention. She is a college writing instructor, editor, and tutor and teaches poetry workshops for children. Find out more about her at DeborahBacharach.com.
Debby you never cease to amaze me! Love it! If you ever get to Atlanta please spend some time with Sue and I.