thank you for sharing this, cookii! I love the sensory imagery in this piece, and collapsing the images of star anise with actual stars works so well!
#The Year I Put a Star in My Tea
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in the first stanza, I love the way it shifts from talking about the stars in the dark sky to the star anise in the dark coffee; the image translates well, and it's a captivating beginning to the piece. my main critique here would be that there's an odd transition between "I pluck a twinkling star," which states that this is a completed action, and "since I am wingless," which implies that the action wasn't completed after all. I would consider changing the verb in the first line to something more indicative of desire or longing—perhaps "I wished a twinkling star" or something similar
in the context of the poem as a whole, the second stanza feels extraneous. I really like the alliterative line "the robust hug of this honey-hued elixir/ the hearty atar anise," but honestly, I think this stanza could be cut out completely and it would improve the narrative flow of the poem
the third and fourth stanzas are a delight to read! you evoke the taste is so vividly, and you use small details like "old school," "candy-sparse/ household I lived in," and "formulation/ dilutes overtime" (which should be "over time" btw) to transition into the main thematic beat of the piece, which is the interplay between taste and memory
the short fifth stanza marks a turning point, when you make a poignant connection between the dilution of cough syrup and the dilution of your childhood home. I would change "empty" to "emptiness" here for clarity's sake, but otherwise this is one of my favorite moments of the piece!
the sixth stanza tells the story of an absent father returning to the same homeland that you yourself feel disconnected from, and the callback to the tea (notably not spiced with anise) is a telling and well-placed addition
the seventh stanza packs even more of a flavorful punch! the main bit I would alter here is the adjective phrase "unlooked for" to describe homesickness, since it lacks flow. maybe another adjective that sounds smoother and connects thematically would improve the line— I suggest "swallowed homesickness" (after which you could also change the verb "jumps out in" to something that ties in, like "bloats me with")
the eigth and ninth stanzas of the piece are tonally very different from the rest. they are much more hopeful and forward-looking. I like the image of taking the anise as a portable drink and being "lightly packed/ ready to go," but I'm not sure what these final stanzas add to the piece that was already so resonant with connections between taste, memory, and what it means to be home. what would it look and feel like if the piece ended with the seventh stanza? could these eigth and ninth stanzas be reworked into a separate piece on their own? play around with it and see!
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I think my poems actually tend to have fairly resolved endings, but I try to keep them consistent thematically and tonally with the rest of the piece! the main thing to watch out for is adding something that doesn't fit the rest of the poem just to try to tie the ending up with a bow. sometimes you just have to sit with a difficult emotion, and let that be the ending!