After Ellen Bass’ “Ever Changing Song”
This morning, I washed the brown earthenware teapot,
its spout cracked under the glaze, worn down by accidental
smacks against the porcelain border between sinks. I used
to let it sit till dinner, a second cup of tea
my ritual, sometimes, after breakfast while I wrote,
or later in the day when my energy drooped like a wet
flag from its pole. Or like the twisted lilac, listing north,
its heart-shaped leaves brown with freeze
against the morning sky. Brown like the pot
deep, circular vessel . . . drinking cup.
The spout a lip, my lip a cup to drink
the tannin-stained tea I gave up to save
my heart, a spout bursting through all that blue.
Subhaga Crystal Bacon (she/they) is a Queer poet living in rural northcentral Washington on unceded Methow land. They are the author of four collections of poetry including most recently Transitory, recipient of the Isabella Gardner Award for Poetry, 2023, from BOA Editions, and Surrender of Water in Hidden Places, winner of the Red Flag Poetry Chapbook Prize, 2023.
© 2024, Subhaga Crystal Bacon
Halfway Down the Stairs 