Tea-Strainer by Joyelle McSweeney : Poetry Magazine [poem/magazine] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.

POEM

Tea-Strainer

by Joyelle McSweeney

Joyelle McSweeney

Leaf-keep, un-sibyl; if the soul

Has the weight of a swallow, what less

Has the weight of a sip? You equal

This riddle, unposed in your dish

As a hand at rest in a lap. Held to,

You hold back what can't be

Prevented, what's no more palatable

For that: the unfine; formerly, our future.

Source: Poetry (July 1999).

This poem originally appeared in the July 1999 issue of Poetry.

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Joyelle McSweeney was born in Boston and spent most of her childhood in suburban Philadelphia. She . . . MORE »