Tuesday Poem: It's got a leaf

It’s

true I

didn’t eat

pears for years

unaware they ripen

from  the  inside  out,

despite Dad who worked

with apples and pears, sold

them in  Europe,  took us on

holidays to orchards and packing

sheds, ordered them, tissue-cupped,

by the wooden box. Now I try to buy 

my pears from Tom or Richard or Sandra:

Winter Nelis – which looks like Nellie but

isn’t – the round hard-looking ones that feel

just picked, and pile them on the spotted plate,

slice them one by one to eat. Winter Nelis – the

one Annie painted for me: a rich red wall behind
the freckled face of it, a goldenish shine to the

skin – the one Tom or Richard or Sandra

rushed over to her from the fruit shop
next door: Look, it’s got a leaf!

Mary McCallum

Such a winter poem! Enjoy (best enjoyed eating a pear). And do check out the Tuesday Poem at the hub – it's by best first book of poetry winner 2014, Marty Smith, and is stunning: Agnus Dei. There are stacks of other Tuesday Poems in the sidebar there too.