Diana Raab
Farmers’ Market
Straw baskets in tow,
I arrive on Carillo Street,
in a sort of walking meditation
as if part of a sacred Ashram—
a coming together of kindred spirits.
I look forward to my Saturday morning ritual,
a sensory self-care experience
lifting me from a secluded writer’s life.
Pridefully, the berry boy organizes my baskets,
as he flirts with young and old.
The farmer’s wife offers slices
of sun-warmed peaches to the passing crowd.
Date displays—hard and soft.
Two hippies in their booth
rearranging avocadoes
like teachers align children in schoolyards.
Dusted with earth’s perfume,
carrots, stacked for pickings.
Between booths, a braided blonde adolescent
strums her guitar—her coffee tin brims
with bills—while an unhoused man
offers jokes for a dime
as a balloon man blows exotic shapes.
My favorite last stop: the orchid booth,
lingering in indecision,
I paint my home with food and colors
bright as the hopes of childhood.
Diana Raab has been widely published and anthologized in journals such as Rattle, Verse-Virtual, SALT, Vox Populi, New York Quarterly and others. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. Her latest book, co-edited with Chryss Yost, is Women in A Golden State: California Poets at 60 and Beyond (Gunpowder Press, 2025). Raab writes for Psychology Today, The Good Men Project, The Mindful Word, Sixty and Me, Medium, and others. Her poetry collection, Walking Myself Home: Haibun & Haiku is forthcoming in 2027 (Finishing Line Press). Visit https://www.dianaraab.com.
