A Great Poem is a Campfire
we return to,
seeking its light, holding
our fragile fingers over flames,
feeling heat, using a stick
found deep in the woods
and stripped bare
we stretch over the fire
till what we pierce
bursts into burning
and we bite into the brown shell,
sink our teeth into the creamy center.
--Linda McCauley Freeman
The poet would like to thank The Orchards Poetry Journal and Kelsay Books for publishing this poem in their Summer 2025 issue.
A Great Poem is a Campfire by Linda McCauley Freeman | Poetry Reed Diffuser
Linda McCauley Freeman is the author of two full-length poetry books The Marriage Manual (Backroom Window Press, 2024) and The Family Plot (BWP, 2022) and has been widely published in international journals, including in a Chinese translation. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Grand Prize winner of StoriArts’ Maya Angelou poetry contest, lines from one of her poems are on display at the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. She has an MFA from Bennington College and is the former poet-in-residence of the Putnam Arts Council. She lives in the Hudson Valley, NY, where she is a swing dance teacher and a yoga instructor.
www.lindamccauleyfreeman.com
