Inside Apples

Leland James

I utter apples,

As only I (and you) can do.

A tree can grow an apple.

A pig with apples knows what to do.

But I (and you) can utter apples.

“Apples, apples, apples …”

Red, sourgreen, yellow Delicious,

Macintosh, Winesap, Spy,

Jonathans in pecks and bushels.

Snow white inside

“Apples!”

In wintertime I smell them,

Apples in my mind.

Whole orchards of them, red ripe.

I pluck one down.

I pucker at the thought:

A soursweet bite.

I hear an applecrunch;

I all but chew.

All, merely murmuring

“Apples.”

I marvel at the mystery,

This utterance of apples,

Here inside of me

–and you.

Leland James was a recent winner of the Portland Pen Poetry Contest, the Writers’ Forum Short Poem contest, and the Conclave Character Prize in Fiction. He was runner up for the Fish International Poetry Prize and received the Franklin-Chistoph Merit Award for poetry. His work has appeared in New Millennium Writers, Magma, Reach Poetry, Barnwood International Poetry Mag, Voices of Israel, Osprey Journal, Cyclamens and Swords, The Umbrella, The Delinquent, Thirty First Bird Review, Carillon Magazine, joyful, Inspirit, Harûah, Shine, Ruminate, The Enigmatist, Dawntreader, and Conclave among others.

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