Diabetic Gumdrops by Ephraim Scott Sommers

Diabetic Gumdrops by Ephraim Scott Sommers will be available for purchase in September 2026. Click here to preorder from Main Street Rag Publishing Company.

Dear Ephraim Scott Sommers,

When we think about haunting, I’d bet good money that the majority of us think about one entity haunting another, separate entity. Here, we see the self — the body grappling with diabetes — almost being haunted by itself.

While haunting certainly has a negative connotation, I believe that you, in Diabetic Gumdrops, show another, more nuanced angle to this conversation. In your collection, haunting is the body’s reminder to care — for the speaker to care for themselves and accept care from others.

In your poem “Ode to Spouses of Diabetics,” you write:

“one eye on their lover on stage

one eye on their lover’s glucose monitor

themselves in their own polite dance

between when to let us paddle further

into the pantry

and when to throw us the grappling hook

to pull us out of the deep deep dark” (30).

Accepting the presence and care of another during a time of physical discomfort and/or bodily upset is tremendously difficult. Yet in this ode, we see not only that the speaker allows another person to be present with them, but that they let their spouse in on the experience of caring for themself. This love is strong. It follows the pair. It haunts.

It is not easy to persevere through what actively complicates our lives. While I do not have diabetes, I find caring — compassionately and fervently — for myself when my disability ails me, intensely difficult. Still, I can’t run and hide from it.

From the poem,“Ode on Returning to a California Beach After Twelve Years,” we learn that the speaker must 

“you cannot be invisible

so stop here and curl up the legs of your jeans

consider how every measurable shape you try to sculpt your steps into

is just a shell you pick up like an ear” (27).

This collection serves as a wonderful reminder to cuff up our jeans. Thank you for sharing Diabetic Gumdrops with us.

All my best,

Carlin Steere