Apple Picking

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing, Yummy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
apple picking SmadarHalperinEpshtein

Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein

 

He saw the gnarled trunk and the orbs

Round

And red

And green,

Undulating in the breeze that

Caressed his cheeks and flipped the end

Of his shirt up

Cool

On his tummy

When he ran.

He heard the crunch of grass-blades

Succulent

Under the smooth soles of

His shoes,

Each step sinking slightly into the

Soft

Saturated

Ground.

The thump of apple

Fallen

Filled his ears,

Alongside his own breath

Fast,

Excited

In his chest,

And the sound of his family

Drumming apples

Into their

Rustling plastic bags

And creaky wooden crates

And pinging metal pail.

He smelled the crushed grass,

The too-sweet scent of slightly

Rotting apples

On damp ground,

And a whiff of the caramel

That promised

One on a stick

For later on.

He stretched

To reach

Around the fruit,

The sky in his eyes and

The taste of last year’s

Treat

Faint and candied

On his

Tongue.

 

 

 

For the dVerse challenge: senses

 

38 thoughts on “Apple Picking”

  4. Caressed his cheeks and flipped the end

    Of his shirt up

    Cool

    On his tummy

    When he ran. – I absolutely love that detailing. You’ve captured an experience beautifully here, and in the moment you capture you give us glimpses of the past and the future. It’s a lovely piece.

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    • Yay, Sarah, I’m so glad you liked it — and it was, indeed, a favorite bit here, too …. 😉 Children have such a capacity to be in the moment, and to experience things through their senses and remind us of our own ability to do so. 🙂 I’m delighted it came through. 🙂

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  5. The line breaks accelerate the rhythm, and your internal rhyming is lovely. You’ve captured a moment in childhood, and a copy of it should be posted alongside the Cider House Rules

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  10. I love the shape of this poem, which reflects the stretch of both tree and boy! It also stretches out the sense of temptation by those round, red and green orbs. You’ve linked the boy and apples so well by the breeze in the lines:
    ‘Undulating in the breeze that
    Caressed his cheeks and flipped the end
    Of his shirt up
    Cool
    On his tummy’.
    Such intense appeal to the all the senses throughout, Na’ama, especially that ‘whiff of the caramel / That promised / One on a stick’ and ‘The taste of last year’s / Treat / Faint and candied / On his / Tongue.

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