An Apple a Day

[Tinker]

An Apple a Day

                      One bite
and the crunch is tart
and sweet. The taste
        of earth and sky,
sweetened by the sun
and the waters of life.
       Juice escapes
to moisten my lips
      and from the orb
sticky elixir drips
              onto my palm
to be licked off later.

Warmed by the sun
              and snatched
from a flexible limb,
how many before me
have savored the glory
of the apple?

             Some believe,
Eve was first to taste,
tempted by a serpent.
              Norse gods
credited their immortality
to the fruit.
              Ancients
cultivated orchards
grafting to ensure consistency.
        Fruit of knowledge
               past and future.

Delicate, pink blossoms
              herald Spring
and baskets of plump
             red and green apples
punctuate Fall harvest
to be devoured
     raw, baked,
             stewed, candied
or floating in a tub.

You know what they say,
        "An apple a day"
Yummy.
             ~~Judi Van Gorder

Footnote:

[eclipse]

An excellent piece of writing

..

[JoelJosol]

Tinker, you hooked me into the poem by the opening two lines. But somehow I could not imagine "the taste of earth and sky". 

[Tinker]

Thanks Barry, my poems are pretty simple in comparison with yours.  I am flattered you read and commented.

~~Tink

[Tinker]

Hi Joel,   Ha ha,  I thought about those words and came to the conclusion that earth and sky, sun and water were pretty basic elements and the apple is a very common, basic fruit that has been around since time began.  They seemed to go together for me.

~~Tink

[tonyv]

Judi, this is a lovely composition, a pleasure to read. An homage to the apple, the entire poem, even/especially "the taste of earth and sky," gave me a palpable sense of terroir.

Tony

[Tinker]

Love the word Tony. Thank you.  Terroir is actually what I was going for if I had ever seen or heard the word before.  Surprising too since this not only apple country, it also wine country.  Many of the old apple orchards are being converted to vineyards.   So many wineries here and I have been to many, many wine tastings. It is the thing to do here for charitable events as well as just promotional events at the wineries.  You'd think the word would have been used somewhere.  Trust me, I'll be using the word in some poem.

~~Tink