lostinapapercup | what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars

First off, an extra thank you for the good thoughts attached to my last entry. It's been a rough week, and I appreciate them like you wouldn't believe.

Secondly, another poem!

After Hearing a Woman Say the Heart is the Same Size as an Apple, by Kelli Russell Agodon

I.
I begin to consider which one I keep in my chest.

A small pumping Fuji or Bailey Sweet.
I am part pie, part fritter, part turnover
in bed and listen to the thump thump thump of an Empire,
the whisper of Paula Red, the morning yawn of Sunrise.

II.
When I say I love you I taste cinnamon,
sugar, my coated center
beating again. Never bitter, I toss the green ones
to Adam, halve another to find a star.
O sweet apple of my -

             unpeeling, pale white
             skin appearing in your hands.

III.
My mother plucked the low ones
from trees planted the year I was born.
        Every harvest, carrying ribs
of baskets to the orchard, we gathered each heart.
Hours later my hands were red, but I continued,
nothing more than a fist opening and closing.