First off, an extra thank you for the good thoughts attached to my last entry. It's been a rough week, and I appreciate them like you wouldn't believe.
Secondly, another poem!
After Hearing a Woman Say the Heart is the Same Size as an Apple, by Kelli Russell Agodon
I.
I begin to consider which one I keep in my chest.
A small pumping Fuji or Bailey Sweet.
I am part pie, part fritter, part turnover
in bed and listen to the thump thump thump of an Empire,
the whisper of Paula Red, the morning yawn of Sunrise.
II.
When I say I love you I taste cinnamon,
sugar, my coated center
beating again. Never bitter, I toss the green ones
to Adam, halve another to find a star.
O sweet apple of my -
unpeeling, pale white
skin appearing in your hands.
III.
My mother plucked the low ones
from trees planted the year I was born.
Every harvest, carrying ribs
of baskets to the orchard, we gathered each heart.
Hours later my hands were red, but I continued,
nothing more than a fist opening and closing.
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