Amanda Nicole Gulla
 

Sample Poem

A Banner Year for Apples

A year ago it was enough
to live on the tart leavings of our stooped
pair of trees.  They gave no shade,
did nothing but drop
miserly fruit.  Still, the black
bears came and took what was offered.

Now the sow pushes her cubs
up the trunk for the juicy red ones.
The bold will risk the thinnest branch to
reach the sweetest.
It’s what she waited for all
winter through spring.

In summer the harvest came just within grasp.
Now that cooler shadows fall the
grass is littered with her leftovers
mulching slowly into the ground.

A year ago it was enough
to have two crooked trees
in a yard because it’s our yard.

Next year,
if there’s not another blight,
you and I will pick the best these
branches are willing to grant.
Promise ripens
just before the frost.