Connie Wanek

Connie Wanek (1952- ) was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Her family moved to a small farm outside Green Bay when she was very young. As a child in the country, she attended a one-room school, where a single teacher taught all eight grades (no kindergarten) to seventeen students. Connie and her sisters read a great deal, and drew and wrote poems and stories. Poetry was a constant in Connie’s life.

Mulberries in the Park

At free, they're cheap

and sweet enough, and, by late July,

the tree's glad to shed them. Out there

under the storm clouds,

a slender woman reaches

into the plunging branches.

She's bridling the great green horse

in the summer pasture. She takes

a heavy bough in her arms

and feels it lift her off her feet.

She brought a dented pail

but eats as she picks, and around her

falls a shower of mulberries

from the treetop filled with starlings

as, weighted with fruit

the whole tree staggers.

Then the first raindrops tick

among the leaves. Hurry now.

— Connie Wanek