Peachy Poetry: Happy National Poetry Month!

(all photos by Jane Heitman Healy (c) 2011)

If you follow this blog in late summer, you know I love peaches from Western Colorado. So when teacher-poet Janet Clare Fagal submitted these poems, my mouth watered! Enjoy the poem, leave a comment for Janet, and enjoy a fresh peach when you get a chance.                  

                                  After Spring Comes Summer: A Trio of Peachy Poems

                                                           The Peach

                                                           Rub, squeeze, chomp, sip
                                                           sweet fleshy globe.
                                                           Golden-pink like sunset.
                                                           Slips down your throat
                                                           cool as night.
                                                           Feels like summer.
                                                           Refreshes.

                                                               Orchard Treasure

                                                               Silky summer
                                                               fruit
                                                               poised in the farmstand
                                                               basket.
                                                               Piled high, plump,
                                                               delicious.
                                                               Peaches!

                                                                  Peach Cobbler

                                                                  Swirled like pearls,
                                                                  soft and plump,
                                                                  round like globes,
                                                                  gone in gulps.

Springtime in the Autumn of Our Lives: Happy National Poetry Month!

Like last year, I have invited some poet friends to share their work with us. I'm pleased to have Nancy Keck return with this year with this poem to spring. See her last year's submissions here, here, and here.

Spring Time in the Autumn of Our Lives


I am thankful for the lilacs and the rain this springtime in the Grand
Valley as I move unwillingly into old age.
So many spring times and autumns lived here in Colorado, the West,
though my memory remains in the North Country on the shore of
Lake Superior, my heart’s home.


Yet year upon year I’ve lived in the high desert
      where our daughters grew into brave young women,
      mothers now with compassionate careers
      their lives have passed as a flicker of a candle flame,
      as my life has passed
Until now when I wake in the morning and my mind searches my body
      for the locus of pain and I wonder
      How mobile will I be today?
      How long will my energy sustain me?
      What, if anything, will I accomplish?
The first cup of coffee brings hope
      soaking in a hot tub of Epsom Salts and lavender bring relief
      then, I can begin my day.



Focus on the good, I think, all the joys of this life
      extravagant scent of the lilacs
      deep softness of my husky’s thick, double coat
      steady richness of my husband’s garden
      peach-tender skin of my sleeping grandson’s cheek
      caring closeness of my daughters
      understanding humor of my friends
      sunlight glancing off the Colorado River, my sister now,
            after all the years I’ve spent on her banks
      joy of birdsong in the morning
      safety of our little house that shelters us, my husband and I,
            survivors of loss and desperation
      walking gently into these, the latest years of our lives
      believing in the dreams of our adult children
      loving the promise of our grandchildren
      seeking gratitude for all we have been given.


                                                ~Nancy E. Keck, May 16, 2016

What would be on your list when you focus on the good?

The Feast of Life: National Poetry Month

Today's guest poet is Nancy Keck from Colorado. She is a retired Developmental Reading faculty at Western Colorado Community College, has written poetry for years, and belongs to Women Writing for a Change in Western Colorado.

   Feast on My Life

I want to feast on my life, to savor each of the many blessings that fill it now.

            The orange scented blessings of our three daughters,

             mothers themselves, so beautiful and so brave!

             The salty scented blessings of the little ones, three two-year-olds in our blended family,

                 each one a tornado of energy

                 each one a unique gift of love.

And the two babies whose soft skin, like the flesh of a pear, guides us to caress them.

        

I want to feast on the surprise that is my new husband,

                 learning to trust again has been slow and difficult for me,

                 but he is constant.

      A gardener, he tastes of dirt and honey, tomatoes and chocolate.

I want to luxuriate in stroking the soft coats of my huskies and gaze into the gentle brown eyes of my
lab-mix, Murphy.

    My dogs are my dearest companions

                urging me out to walk along the Colorado River,

                they leap, run and play joyfully in the sunshine.

I want to feast on my life         

              on all its honeyed sweetness    

              and sour sadness

   for this savory banquet is all mine.                                     

                                                                                ~ Nancy E. Keck   April 2, 2012

Nancy's poem could be a response to Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day," which has the oft-quoted end lines: 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do 

with your one wild and precious life?

Readers, what do you feast on? Or how would you answer Oliver's question? Kindly leave a comment for Nancy below.

It's Peach Season!

Yes! It is time to celebrate the season of abundant produce, and particularly peaches! We are so fortunate that a local hardware store trucks in lugs each year from Western Colorado. This year's load (or lode, as I think of it) comes from Black Bear Orchards in Palisade. Yes, we got a whole lug. No, that is not too much for two people--at least not the two people at our house. 

This year's poem for peach season is a haiku: 

slices of sunshine

slide gentle juice down my throat,

cozy taste of home.

See last year's peach season poem here.

What flavors do you savor this season? Here, everything's peachy!

(photos by Jane Heitman Healy, c 2014)

Life's a Peach!

(photo copyright 2011, Jane Heitman Healy)

It's peach season! Fortunately, our local supermarket is selling lugs of peaches from Talbott Farms in Palisade, Colorado, my old stomping grounds in the Grand Valley. They were expensive, but worth it for more than just their flavor. A taste of a Palisade peach is, well--

This Peach

This peach glows
Like a gold nugget,
One side red-orange, sun-swiped,
One side shaded
Yellow.

This peach overflows.
Bites of flawless fruit slip
From the red stone. A flavor fountain
Of juice glazes my chin, my
Hands.

This peach goes
A thousand miles, tucked
In a lug and trucked, to meet my lips
And bring the taste of
Home.

(copyright 2013, Jane Heitman Healy)

(photo copyright 2011, Jane Heitman Healy)

What flavors make you think of home?

For more peachy goodness, see this post from last August.

Everything's Peachy!

(photo copyright 2011, Jane Heitman Healy)

'Tis the season of abundance, as fruit ripens and vegetables mature for good, fresh eating. In August, the Western Colorado peach harvest is in full swing. The area around Palisade is apparently perfect for peach growing. Orchards abound and sell their goods on site and at farmer's markets. There's nothing like biting into a big, ripe peach and savoring the flavor while juice drips down your chin!

Here's a visit to one Palisade orchard:

Palisade held its annual Peach Festival last week--a place for fun and for finding a plethora of peach recipes, including interesting ones from area chefs.

(photo copyright 2011, Jane Heitman Healy)

I was delighted to discover two suppliers of Colorado peaches here in my South Dakota city! One hardware store and one large grocery chain bring in lugs by the semi trailer full. For a few weeks each summer, everything's peachy!

(photo copyright 2011, Jane Heitman Healy)

Your reading connection this time? The peach section of your favorite cookbook or maybe Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.