Hello! This is Michelle Beauchamp (aka Mish at mishunderstood.wordpress.com) I am here to bring you another edition of Open Link Night. As you may know, OLN allows you the opportunity to share ONE poem of your choice with the rest of the dVerse community. There is no particular theme or form required, but you are welcome to use the mini-prompt offered below. If you missed the deadline for a recent prompt, you could use this chance to respond.

Plums and peaches and pears, oh my! These are only a few of the fruits that ripen in southern Ontario during August. We savour every flavour as our summer season peaks and fades so quickly. The local markets are stocked with the sweetest peaches, nectarines and cherries. Lately, we have enjoyed the local farms that offer a U-pick option for strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Fresh cantaloupe and watermelon are easy to find and the crispiest Gala apples have arrived. My husband’s tomato plants have been providing just enough cherry and grape tomatoes to occasionally toss into a salad or pasta dish.

Fruit has often found its way into poetry to symbolize temptation, love, and abundance but I adore the way Li-Young Lee reflects on the simple joy of fruit-filled days and fleeting moments of life in this poem.

From Blossoms

By Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes

this brown paper bag of peaches

we bought from the boy

at the bend in the road where we turned toward   

signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,

from sweet fellowship in the bins,

comes nectar at the roadside, succulent

peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,

comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,

to carry within us an orchard, to eat

not only the skin, but the shade,

not only the sugar, but the days, to hold

the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into   

the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live

as if death were nowhere

in the background; from joy

to joy to joy, from wing to wing,

from blossom to blossom to

impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

www.poetryfoundation.org

For today’s OPTIONAL MINI-PROMPT, you may choose to find inspiration within the lines of “From Blossoms” by doing one of the following:

Option #1 – Write about a similar memory of seasonal fruit, bringing you back to a time, place or person associated with it.

Option #2 – Consider the way the poem eludes to mortality and the preciousness of life in the last stanza and follow your muse with that theme. No fruit required.

However…..my peach-blueberry upside down cake is fresh out of the oven and ready to serve up in the pub!

Here’s how to join in:

• Write one poem and post it to your blog.
• Enter your name and direct link to your poem into Mr. Linky.
• You will also find some other amazing poems! Please read and comment.
• Provide a link to dVerse so others can find us too.
• Drop in to say hello in our discussion below. Did my mention upside down cake?
• Have fun!