peaches

peaches came to me late in life   not too late

only ten peachless years

though gerber may have strained 

a few peaches my way

i remember it as if it were yesterday

or even today   a few minutes ago

sitting on a duffel bag of dirty clothes

the last day of summer camp

kidlets waiting for the bus to take us to the train

which would take us home

ten years old and homesick   the kind of homesickness

that comes only on the last day  

when looking forward to switches from where we are 

to where we will be

sitting on duffle bags   kids full of indian lore

and medaled with mosquito bites   

eating a box lunch and a peach   a fuzzy drippy

darling of a peach   who knew

such sweetness could be contained so tidily

and expressed so messily

~

plums

a summer day   walking with my mother

to the orchard where she finds plums

ripe and ready for harvest 

plump pickable pluckable plums 

to me a treasure   for who knew

such a thing grew on trees

i wondered what else might grow on trees   

wrigley's spearmint gum

taffy apples   margaret's fried chicken

how is a child to know

when all the world is random

and plums grow on trees

~

"There's an island way out in the sea
Where the babies, they all grow on trees
And it's jolly good fun to swing in the sun
But you gotta watch out if you sneeze-sneeze
Gotta watch out if you sneeze" 

~ The Baby Tree, Rosalie Sorrels