Renée M. Sgroi, poet

 
 
 August on her hands
  
 red and running with juice,
 her body squat, around
 a quickly filling bucket
  
 cradling another tomato
 sharp slice and sniff
 (ripe or rotten test)
 bruised skins shimmering
 a late summer sun;
  
 tomorrow
  
 the children will return –
 to school their yellowed pencils,
 small hands carving
 twenty-six letters
 erasing
 scent of basil, tomato leaves
 greenness etched on hands
  
  
  
  
   

© Renée M. Sgroi, 2015

“August on her hands” originally appeared in The Prairie Journal, iss.65