sara Etgen-Baker Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

image from poetess' personal scrapbook

Mother in her kitchen, 1962

ALCHEMY OF PATIENCE

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I need only to close my eyes, and I’m back on Third Street, walking up the driveway, through the yard and entering Mother’s bright, warm kitchen.  I’m home again.” (quote by poetess)

Spring reluctantly appears~
uncertain of its own cadence,
gently touching winter’s lingering edge.
Wind argues with sun’s warmth,  
but the plum trees don’t listen.  

They bloom anyway.  

Then, the pink confetti surrenders  
to fruit, swollen and impatient.  
Our hands, sticky with proof,  
dripping evidence onto the grass  
summer’s first crime.  

Mother’s voice, a worn recipe:  
Wait. Listen for the jars to pop.  
The kitchen air thickens  
with the scent of stolen sugar,  
and the alchemy of patience.  
Jars line up like soldiers,  
hot and blushing.  

I press my ear to the air,  
waiting for the click~  
tiny locks turning,  
secrets sealing themselves away.  
Forty-five jelly promises,  
each jar sweeter  
than the last.  

Even now,  
when I twist open a jelly jar,  
the pop is her voice:  
Here! Taste this!.  
And the past rushes back~  
sticky, impossible to wash off.  

Related memoir vignette at: poetrysoup.com/short_stories/bumper_crop_13658 

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Line Gauthier March 27, 2026 at 11:15 AM Lovely ~ what wonderful memories

Valsa George March 14, 2026 at 5:13 AM Dear Sara, from the picture l guess that your mother was well built, beautiful and confident. My mother too was a good cook. She used to make Pineapple jam, mango jelly and squash. When ever l apply jam on bread, l too remember my mother. Loved reading your quote.