Apple Trees in Etowah
By Kathleen Calby
April 15, 2023
April 15, 2023
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I want to walk among them as blossoms
In this time when nests appear, then again when that white snow falls. and birdsong wake all that breathes Again, as small globes gleam and grow, I will let my fingertips steal across their skin, draw from tiny, feathered bodies, full-throated voices their scent to place it at my neck and wrists. among so many branches, the notes sway Until they sweeten, I am only waiting for these queens of fruit. If I can’t last, I grab that scrap of song, the one that echoes the green ones—so sour, my lips pout. But hidden some strayed piece of my heart in the hall of my mouth, I taste the harvest I do not doubt. In fall when their signature smell reminds me of another grove dusts my sleeves, I want to spring and—mid-air— snatch one with my teeth. |
Kathleen Calby lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hosts writer events for the North Carolina Writers Network in Henderson County. Her work appears in Broad River Review, San Pedro River Review and New Plains Review, among other publications. Named a 2022 Rash Award Poetry Finalist, she also earned a Gilbert-Chappell mentorship in 2021. Kathleen’s chapbook, Flirting with Owls, will be published in 2023 by Kelsay Books.