June Column

First published in The Evening Sun


I had never walked through a flower garden of poems until reading local poet Anne Higgins' work. She grows her poems, much like she grows flowers or tends the cherry tomatoes. She roots them in the earth of her experience and provides only the necessary supplements: water, sunshine, good intentions. Such fragrant bouquets of poems bloom from the simplicity of her images and ideas that her readers, as Ted Kooser writes in "Lilacs," "want to stand / among them, breathing."

In the following poem, Higgins encourages the reader to "pay attention to the ordinary details of life and how much delight resides in them." She places her finger on the pulse of these everyday objects to show how much life they exude, how much joy we can find in the present moment.

Tribute Poem


Praise for late sleeping day,
waking up without alarm,
for corkscrews,
corkscrew call of
yellowing lustful goldfinches,
butter,
opposable thumbs,
lusciously plush perfume
of viburnum
blooming in the woods
just now
just now.


Everyone can easily access Higgins' images, as they are rooted in our everyday experience. Though the poem reads as a meditation, it is grounded in the concrete. For example, my favorite line in this poem is "butter." By placing this on a line by itself, Higgins encourages us to experience butter in all of its sensory appeal: the rich taste, the greasy feel, and the morning scent of it. She rejoices in butter and encourages the reader to do the same.

In the last two lines, "just now / just now," Higgins asks the reader to focus on the present moment. Though life moves quickly around us like a whirlwind, taking a second to be conscious of our senses can fill us with joy and clarity.

Higgins calls the next poem her "ecstatic garden poem." The garden plays a major role in Higgins' body of work, and she credits gardens with much of her inspiration. "Cherry Tomatoes" was written during a retreat at the Carmelite Monastery in Baltimore. Garrison Keeler read this poem last August on "The Writer's Almanac" for NPR.

Cherry Tomatoes


Suddenly it is August again, so hot,
breathless heat.
I sit on the ground
in the garden of Carmel,
picking ripe cherry tomatoes
and eating them.
They are so ripe that the skin is split,
so warm and sweet
from the attentions of the sun,
the juice bursts in my mouth,
an ecstatic taste,
and I feel that I am in the mouth of summer,
sloshing in the saliva of August.
Hummingbirds halo me there,
in the great green silence,
and my own bursting heart
splits me with life.


"Cherry Tomatoes" shows us the power of immediate sensory realities. The simple things we sense in a moment can speak volumes about philosophical concepts. Even sitting in a garden eating cherry tomatoes can well our spirits with joy!

Anne Higgins is a member of the Daughters of Charity and teaches English at Mount Saint Mary's. She participates actively in the poetry community by reading and publishing her work. On top of her five books and about ninety poems published in journals, Pecan Grove Press will publish Higgins' next collection, "Reconnaissance," in the fall.

Higgins encourages aspiring writers to keep a journal. Though some years she fills numerous journals and other times it takes her years to fill one, journal writing helps keep track of ideas and makes writing more of a habit.

From time to time, Higgins will also participate in an online initiative to write thirty poems in thirty days. Inspired by this initiative, I have decided to start my own during the month of July. I challenge each of you to write a poem a week and to post it on my blog: http://poetlaureatehanover.blogspot.com. See the website for more details. Let's pay attention to the brilliant sensory experience of summer and record it in poetry!