Thimbleberry

One taste

and the rest
is what came after.
Little berry,

you’re the flavor
of my best,
most necessary

kiss. Fit
for a tongue tip,
exactly.

You were nothing
until I picked
you once.

How long
do we willingly
live without?

How hungry
would I be if
I’d kept walking?

Kathleen Flenniken’s poetry collections are Plume, a finalist for the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and Famous, named a Notable Book by the American Library Association. She was the 2012 – 2014 Washington State poet laureate.