After Working in the Garden

By Ute Carson

Pearls of sweat trickle down my forehead

onto my nose and along the wrinkles of my mouth.

I taste the salty drops

and stretch out in the tall grass

while morning dew moistens my hair.

A bug rustles along the rim of my ear.

I giggle with delight.

The sun soon dries every trace of coolness

as its warmth enters my body,

Illuminating me from within.

_________________________________________

Ute Carson, a German-born writer from youth and an MA graduate in Comparative Literature from the University of Rochester, published her first prose piece in 1977. Colt Tailing, a 2004 novel, was a finalist for the Peter Taylor Book Award. Ute’s story “The Fall” won Outrider Press’s Grand Prize and appeared in its short story and poetry anthology, A Walk through My Garden, in 2007. Her second novel In Transit was published in 2008.

Ute’s poetry was televised on the Spoken Word Showcase 2009-2011, Channel Austin.

A poetry collection Just a Few Feathers was published in 2011. The poem “A Tangled Nest of Moments” placed second in the Eleventh International Poetry Competition 2012. Her chapbook, Folding Washing, was published in 2013 and her collection of poems, My Gift to Life, was nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Prize. Save the Last Kiss, a novella, was published in 2016. Her poetry collection, Reflections, came out in 2018 and In the Blink of an Eye in 2023.

Ute received the Ovidu-Bektore Literary Award 2018 from the Anticus Multicultural Association in Constanta, Romania. In 2018, she was nominated a second time for the Pushcart Prize by the Plain View Press.

Gypsy Spirit was published in 2020 as was her essay “Even a Gloved Touch.” Yellow Arrow Press issued Listen in 2021, and once again, Ute was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her essay “Deep in the Heart of Texas” was published by the Bullock Texas State History Museum in 2023 and the magazine Bewildering Stories featured her essay “Caught in the U.S. Healthcare Maze.”

A plethora of poems and essays like “An Old Soul’s Journey,” “Seeing with the Third Eye,” “Fainting on the Track,” and “Tweaking My Conscience" were published in 2024/25

The author resides in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, and a clowder of cats.

Connect with her at www.utecarson.com