Midsummer's Eve in a Harsh Climate, by Grace Marie Grafton

Midsummer's Eve in Norway, by Christian Skredsvig (Norway), 1886.

Midsummer's Eve in a Harsh Climate

It wasn't a fiddle, it was an accordion.
So we started, so we continued while June light
rinsed evening air into shadow. Recalled wishes
like not-yet-moths, fluttered around our heads. 
A spree of dumbstruck would-be-ers
hoping for a lick of fun in a somber life,
we'd allowed ourselves license to ride the tide
with a ransom of music and some modest laughter.
How about a song? Can't dance in a boat but
the beat of the oars and the way light in the willows
peeked at us from shore lent us the text 
to an old drinking song. Spirits come in many forms.
Raise the cup, dunk sorrow, it's a new chance now. 
Are we equal to joy? A little jelly to spread gleaming
over the continent of pain.

Grace Marie Grafton

Grace Marie Grafton’s most recent book, Jester, was published by Hip Pocket Press. She is the author of six collections of poetry.  Her poems won first prize in the Soul Making contest (PEN women, San Francisco), in the annual Bellingham Review contest, Honorable Mention from Anderbo and Sycamore Review, and have twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Poems recently appear in Sin Fronteras, The Cortland Review, Canary, CA Quarterly, Askew, Fifth Wednesday Journal, poetrymagazine.com and West Trestle Review.