Taylor Mardis Katz
Hold Tight Hold Tight Hold Tight
It was the day after a very long winter
finally ended and the warmth rose up
from the hot core of earth and the breeze
was a kiss on the chin
and you were outside with your child
remember this moment remember it
he was eating the orange you peeled for him
and then he was eating the orange
you peeled for yourself
juice was running down his chin he was running
back and forth across the porch holding
last summer’s mullein stalk
he was pushing the dried flowerhead
across the rotting boards
of the porch like a vacuum stopping
only to wiggle or drop a pebble
in between the slats of the picnic table
or ask for another piece of orange
by signing the word for “more” and “please” and
do not forget do not forget
how warm it was it was 5pm
you felt that dinner would sort itself out
you felt a little singed on your nose from the sun
and winter was over it was over you survived it your kid
had learned how to walk and how to ask for things
and how to understand words like “slippers”
and “book” and “yogurt” and “outside”
and you were both outside the sun
would still be out for hours and all of summer
and all your life all the days of your family your farm
were rolled out ahead of you like a birch bark scroll
Taylor Mardis Katz is a poet, farmer, and shopkeeper living in rural Vermont. With her partner, she runs Free Verse Farm & Apothecary and the Free Verse Farm Shop, and parents a small and fantastic human. Taylor’s poems have appeared in a variety of traditional and non-traditional publications since receiving her MFA from San Diego State University, including a farmer's almanac, the podcast Brave Little State, The Connecticut Review, Barnstorm, and The Adirondack Review.
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