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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Apple Season - 1. Chapter 1

As is always the case, any errors you find are my own. Enjoy the apples.

Abundance

hangs down low and heavy,

burdened with summer’s recollection

of dandelions glowing yellow, then fading

to blow away on a deep green breeze,

and of bees in the blooms

making love.

 

~ ~ ~

 

I sing a song of apples on the branch,

of baskets filled to avalanche,

and gloried, storied flavors everywhere,

a feast for senses, past compare.

If hunger pains I need to swiftly squash,

I’ll choose a shiny McIntosh;

but when a latticed pie I’d try to bake,

a Crispin is the one I’d take,

although a Northern Spy is also good

it’s rare within my neighborhood;

considering a press of cider sweet,

the Golden Russet is a treat;

whereas pure Jonathan makes applejack,

one eats its offspring Jonamac,

as well as the sweet, tangy Jonagold

which grows quite large, or so I’m told.

If what I want to have is applesauce,

Transparent Yellows are the boss,

though these today are quite a rarity

so use Macouns in parity.

Should you choose fruit to cook or store and save,

the Blacks from Arkansas you’ll crave;

and if you prize sweet moments reminiscent,

the Red Delicious apple isn’t.

 

~ ~ ~

 

The deer come

when September breathes in

and the high fruit falls into the grass

to roll underneath long-spent iris and tansy;

so must they search for hidden treasure

before it is stolen

by squirrels.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Where the flagstones end

stands a tree so old

its scions have great-grandchildren,

with bent branches gnarled

enough to defeat any

mathematical definition;

weather and wind keep it trimmed,

and though time has eaten away at the heart,

and its old bones bend low in the snow,

still its arms embrace earth and sky,

with fingers tracing ancient designs

– first pink, much later red –

against a crystal blue sky

filled with the robin’s song,

while cradling within its hidden depths

a family of groundhogs

which play amongst the violets and forget-me-nots

at its feet in the spring,

and gather its fallen bounty

when the leaves turn yellow and orange and flutter

like Monarchs on their journeys

to distant lands beyond the flagstones.

 

~ ~ ~

 

I tasted

an apple Eve knew not,

fruit equally forbidden as hers

yet so thrilling and sweet I remember its taste

long after I gulped it down in haste,

only to sour as shame

on my tongue.

 

~ ~ ~

 

The apple of my eye is passing fair,

more radiant than the sun upon the hill,

a-blush and rounded, ripe beyond compare,

enchanting in repose when all lies still.

I dare not touch the flesh or shining skin,

with sweetness all description will defy

to tell the tongue what pleasures lie within

which scandalize the senses in reply.

Yet how might mortals such as I resist

temptation dangling readily at hand,

and pluck that perfect body barely kissed,

who forms a feast both sensual and grand?

For he my core and consciousness have won,

while by his very taste am I undone.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Winter storms

coated our leafless branches

in splendid crystal to catch the sun

which reflected its rays and scattered the shadows

to welcome every eye with rainbows

and the promise of spring

as we melt.


Thank you for taking time to read these. I hope you enjoyed them. Any comments you may have are most welcome.
Copyright © 2024 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
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  • Wow 1
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

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Chapter Comments

9 hours ago, weinerdog said:

I tasted

an apple Eve knew not,

fruit equally forbidden as hers

yet so thrilling and sweet I remember its taste

long after I gulped it down in haste,

only to sour as shame

on my tongue.

Your were doing a great job of praising the apple but then you brought up that😄

I loved how you transitioned the fruit of the apple to the apple of your eye very well done❤️

Thank you for reading these and for your comments. That sonnet took a while to come together; it was the last part of this set to be finished. 

  • Love 3

Wow. Some great poetry here. I absolutely got lost in the old tree. It was wonderful. 'Shame on my tongue' was beautiful, yet sad too. I understood. This is a collection to be proud of, Parker. I hadn't heard of or seen a golden russet in many years. I swear I can smell and taste on just from memory. The ones I remember weren't as smooth skinned as others. 'The apple of my eye' was charming, and ended with the best of lines. Well done!

  • Love 1
21 hours ago, Headstall said:

Wow. Some great poetry here. I absolutely got lost in the old tree. It was wonderful. 'Shame on my tongue' was beautiful, yet sad too. I understood. This is a collection to be proud of, Parker. I hadn't heard of or seen a golden russet in many years. I swear I can smell and taste on just from memory. The ones I remember weren't as smooth skinned as others. 'The apple of my eye' was charming, and ended with the best of lines. Well done!

Thank you so much for your kind comments and reflections. The old tree made it through the winter again, and is showing signs of new scions here and there. I got one or two golden russets a few years back in a mixed bag at a heritage apple orchard. They were a revelation. The history of apples can be fascinating. Transparent Yellows were spread throughout New England by just one or two enthusiasts. Again, many thanks for your thoughts. 
 

  • Like 1
Bill W

Posted (edited)

A beautiful collection of poems about the apple, although you went a little afield with "An apple Eve knew not" and  "The apple of my eye is passing fair", but I loved each and every one of them.  In fact, "Where the flagstones end" made my stomach growl, so now I have to go and get a snack - I believe I still have some Fuji apples left. 

Edited by Bill W
  • Love 1
9 hours ago, Bill W said:

A beautiful collection of poems about the apple, although you went a little afield with "An apple Eve knew not" and  "The apple of my eye is passing fair", but I loved each and every one of them.  In fact, "Where the flagstones end" made my stomach growl, so now I have to go and get a snack - I believe I still have some Fuji apples left. 

Thank you for your kind and generous comments. I decided to use both metaphorical and actual apples as my subjects; it seemed good to widen my scope. I hope you had an excellent snack. 

  • Like 1

Thank you for these. Your survey of apple varieties made me smile. Some I recognise; others are new to me. However I wholeheartedly agree with your disdain for Red Delicious (Pink Lady, I think they're called here). As tasty as a mouthful of damp cotton wool. 

'The apple of my eye' is the epitome of how you take a mundane subject: apples, and turn it into a hymn of praise and love. So you and so a pleasure to read. 

  • Love 1
1 hour ago, northie said:

Thank you for these. Your survey of apple varieties made me smile. Some I recognise; others are new to me. However I wholeheartedly agree with your disdain for Red Delicious (Pink Lady, I think they're called here). As tasty as a mouthful of damp cotton wool. 

'The apple of my eye' is the epitome of how you take a mundane subject: apples, and turn it into a hymn of praise and love. So you and so a pleasure to read. 

I’m very lucky to live in a region where a lot of horticultural research has taken place, yielding a dizzying array of  varieties and variants. The offshoots of old Jonathan apples are just one such case. On the other hand, it’s fun to encounter old heirloom varieties at heritage orchards, and to sample apples one has only read about. I’m very glad you liked Apple of My Eye. I dithered over several lines, and hope I got them right. Thank you so much for trying out these apples, and for your generous comments. 

  • Love 1
AC Benus

Posted (edited)

I love “Abundance” – how perfect it is. The apple recipes which follow take me on a walk down memory lane, like how our friends in Oakland had a Jonathan apple tree twenty years ago, and I’d use them for pan dowdy to their great approbation. A sweet recollection in more ways than one.

One of your Skyscrapers mentions tansy, and I don’t think it grows wild around here, though I’ve always wanted to bake an old fashioned tansy pudding, a staple of English country folks in centuries past.

Thinking of an apple tree – as in its movements against the wind – is so poetically beautiful. Jack London’s teenboy character in The Apostate has his epiphany calculating just such “mathematical definitions,” and it’s one of my favorite short stories; the boy’s mental, physical and spiritual freedom is tied up with the glimpse of God’s calculations as evidenced by that tree.

“Winter storms” is an absolutely gorgeous poem; another divinely flawless Skyscraper with its crystalline rainbows glinting in my wistful eye.

Thank you for writing these!

Edited by AC Benus
  • Love 1
52 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

I love “Abundance” – how perfect it is. The apple recipes which follow take me on a walk down memory lane, like how our friends in Oakland had a Jonathan apple tree twenty years ago, and I’d use them for pan dowdy to their great approbation. A sweet recollection in more ways than one.

One of your Skyscrapers mentions tansy, and I don’t think it grows wild around here, though I’ve always wanted to bake an old fashioned tansy pudding, a staple of English country folks in centuries past.

Thinking of an apple tree – as in its movements against the wind – is so poetically beautiful. Jack London’s teenboy character in The Apostate has his epiphany calculating just such “mathematical definitions” of a similar tree, and it’s one of my favorite short stories; the boy’s mental, physical and spiritual freedom is tied up with the glimpse of God’s calculations as evidenced by that tree.

“Winter storms” is an absolutely gorgeous poem; another divinely flawless Skyscraper with its crystalline rainbows glinting in my wistful eye.

Thank you for writing these!

Tansy pudding! That’s a new idea - and my garden has plenty of tansy plants. They grow tall in the summer, and try to propagate by flopping sideways and seeding themselves in the fall. The Apostate is a story I shall have to look for. Your description makes it sound irresistible. Of all the varieties mentioned in Abundance, the Transparent Yellows are the ones I miss most. Decades ago, they grew in my father’s trees and in abandoned farm meadows now long forested over. As for winter storms, they would be so much easier to curse were they not also sources of many faceted beauty. Thanks so much for your reactions and responses to this set. 

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