Over at dVerse Poets Pub, kim881 in Poetics was interviewing Sarah Connor a long-time member of the Pub. I never had the privilege of writing to one of Sarah’s prompts but it is clear from the interview and from the fragments of Sarah’s poems chosen by Kim, that it would indeed have been a privilege and so I hope to honour her with this poem…
The italicised lines are from Sarah Connor’s poems “Apple” and “ ‘No mail – no post’“
There is a wholesomeness to apples
I used to say I could live
on bread and apples alone
but diabetes now rules
my diet – fruit sugar is
still sugar nevertheless
and most bread, though staff of life
creates a sugar spike for
which I must later atone.
If weather be kind, apples
fill out from flower-size fruit
the white flesh crisp, fine-grained
though Discovery surprises –
the flesh by red skin stained
the taste a fizz of champagne
I must now sip one by one
no longer scoff by the pound.
Sourdough is the only bread
eaten in moderation
some secret from its magic
starter’s generation
baton passed from batch to batch
less sugar, less spike it’s said
and there is more flavour too
yeast fed on the flour itself.
And as a poet, I hope,
just this blank space – this white page
will be fleshed out with words –
the starter of my poesy
will slowly feed on today’s
thoughts and swell the dough, my loaf
which baked on the page will raise
a wholesome, healthy poem.
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
A great poem, Andrew! I love your down to earth illustrations of apples and bread.
Thanks, Dwight – I was rushing to write the poem in half an hour before work – always the problem with Poetics on a Tuesday I don’t see the prompt till late in the evening and I work Tuesday to Wednesday…
There’s never a rush with Poetics prompts, Andrew, they are on for the week, and this prompt for several more to give people who are away a chance to take part. I’m so pleased you chose those lines, especially the one about apples and their wholesomeness, which has taken you on a lovely poetic journey. I also have diabetes, but I still enjoy apples and dark rye bread or sourdough. I love the lines:
‘the flesh by red skin stained
the taste a fizz of champagne’
and
‘the starter of my poesy
will slowly feed on today’s
thoughts and swell the dough, my loaf
which baked on the page will raise
a wholesome, healthy poem.’
Thanks Kim – I will bear that in mind and thanks for introducing me to Sarah’s work, I wish I had been around the Pub sooner…
very nice the way you slipped the prompt words from Sarah in esepcially “just this blank space – this white page
will be fleshed out with words –”
which resonates with apple
Thanks, Laura – I know I should have stuck to one poem but when presented with a selection my mind starts cross-pollinating – or fermenting even…
This is wonderful. Sarah’s words fell in so smoothly and I especially enjoyed the metaphors with bread and poetry.
Thanks Mish – glad you enjoyed it…
I took a few minutes to read my favorite poets this morning and so glad I did, for this is one I would not have missed for all the sourdough in the world. I am a type 2 who appreciates the value of sourdough every now and then. Take care.
Type 2’s are a special club in which we are all No. 1’s of course, Helen! Glad you enjoyed it and honoured to be one of your favourite poets…
A wholesome and health one that is. Love the merging of Sarah’s verses with your poem.
Thanks Grace – wish I had been around when Sarah was posting…
A golden extended metaphor, shining with the light of apples and bread and thoughts borne of life’s vicissitudes (in health, in circumstance) and baked in the yielding yeast of a poet’s fruit-bearing words, yours and Sarah’s. So lovely, Andrew.
I was afraid it would seem prosaic alongside Sarah’s style, Dora, but it seems to have worked…
I like the way you’ve taken such fundamental things – bread, apples – and used them as images for creativity. And enjoyed them as themselves. Lovely stuff.
Thank you so much Sarah…