This metaphor is simple, and yet it packs a punch. It’s from the poem “The Town Where I Belong” in Faith Shearin‘s new collection Telling the Bees. Part of its power comes from the way three of the five senses are used in these few words, a feat that requires Olympic-level skill in descriptive writing. Additional power comes from its rhythm, which helps makes this line memorable. High praise for this young poet comes from the literary journal Prairie Schooner, which said, “Shearin proves, poem after poem, that she writes what we need: poetry that is accessible and meaningful.”
Faith Shearin, Telling the Bees (Nacogdoches, Texas: Stephan F. Austin State University Press, 2015), 85.