Cherries

By Leslie Adrienne Miller b. 1956

Rocked in my mother’s pregnant amble,

and born into forty-five years in the dark,

the egg this child was also swayed in the arts

of lovers I took before you, fed with me

in the public markets of Baltimore and Denpasar

on oysters and rambutan, woke with me each year

to new waves of wander, fish and flower,

liqueur of each region, and bread of each village,

each cup of moonlight in the long sward

between my window and the Wannsee.

The egg he was heard and voices

of everyone I desired and held itself

in some deep hormonal bloom,

taking whatever was remarkable

in my life into its possibility.

We learned not to hurry in Balinese rain,

to listen for the rumble of wild boar

in the Malvan woods. We climbed

into planes bound for cities we’d never

visit again and skin we’d summon

with sobbing. And so, my husband,

as you dream of owning this child,

remember that he has ridden in my fire,

bathed in my blood, and sipped

at the breath I drew the first

time I saw what Rodin had clawed

from stone before he turned from Claudel

and went home for dinner and a clean shirt.

Remember that this child is collage

of everything before you, frangipani

and escargot, five-for-a-dollar boxes

of macaroni, and French cherries

from an old woman in Auvergne

who insisted on the gift

because it was so marvelous

to see a woman traveling alone.

Source: The Resurrection Trade (Graywolf Press, 2007)

Biography

Leslie Adrienne Miller is the author of several collections of poetry, including Yesterday Had a Man In It (1998), Eat Quite Everything You See (2002), and The Resurrection Trade (2007). Miller earned her BA in English from Stephens College in Missouri and earned her MA in English from the University of Missouri. Miller holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from . . .

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