After an NPR story on “New England fruit farmers begin to reimagine crops after climate shifts”
The baby apples
stay green now, never ripen.
As the fruit farmer says, “no seeds, no apples.”
Crops froze during two cold snaps,
first, peaches in February
and then apples in May.
Fruit trees know
when to go to sleep
harden their buds,
drop their leaves
and prepare to survive.
What are the cues
to wake up?
to know it's safe?
How to tally internal readiness,
calculate when to bloom,
when to stay dormant?
Stay on the tree, ride out
the war, the weather, the winter.
What makes soil below or air above
a liveable place?
Water and pray or graft a different variety walk in milky autumn sun, touch
the fallen leaves, crimson pigments
tinged with yellow-dipped lobestrapped sugars alchemize
light into paint. See that one sugar maple
ablaze in cerise so flush, it glows in dusk.
Jessica Genia Simon
Jessica Genia Simon began writing poetry at age seven and lives with her wife and daughter in Silver Spring, Maryland. Built of All I Shape and Name (Kelsay Books, 2023) is her first poetry collection. The poem “Even After” in this collection was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
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