A Poet a Day 18: Nancy Flynn
Day 18 brings us Nancy Flynn, a fellow product of Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. Nancy was kind enough to share her poem, “Them Apples,” which first appeared in the collection, The Hours of Us (© 2007, Finishing Line Press).
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE POEM
In very tight and thoughtful language, Nancy brings us back around to some of the emotions Alison Apotheker shared on Day 7 — a mother’s love, worry, musings and memories. Nancy lulls us through a peaceful remembrance until the end of the fourth stanza, then jackknifes us into an intense moment of flesh and blood.
Them Apples
Before the rain, yellow and green leaves
teetered on the branch like nightingales and crows
balancing opposite ends of a clothesline.
All those years, you hated field trips;
I lied, promising you a ride in a car.
There were dozens of bushels and ladders,
obstacles in the Cornell Orchard where you,
an undeniably growing boy-child,
careened between other race-around kids.
Maybe I need to re-christen those days
Sunset rather than Gala, the defining cultivar
for my years of mothering alone.
It seems like no time
since the child-rearing manuals failed
even when I revisit that slow
shuffle-dance through triage, after the car hit you,
drunk on your bike, in the moment
you somersaulted over the windshield,
the down from your jacket liberated,
your back a drag strip road rash, and me,
in my white linen dress
bloodied where I gathered you up.
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A Poet a Day is a month-long celebration of poets and poetry, in honor of National Poetry Month. Writers reserve all rights to their work, and all work appears with their permission.
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Tags: A Poet a Day, Nancy Flynn, National Poetry Month, Oregon poetry, Portland poetry
