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My neighbor’s orchard looks like Christmas,
red and green apples like glass balls
brimming on branches,
though the sweet flesh is so heavy,
some stems snap.
Fallen, the fruit will fill
with songs of worms.
The grove smells like blue
cradling the October sky, like the end
of hunger, like grace in the tender
dance of sacrifice, one life for another,
the skin soon to be pierced
with blade, or thorn-
sharp bite.
From Particular Scandals (Wipf and Stock, 2013).
Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers.
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Julie L. Moore believes that writing poetry can be like a game, for it can manipulate language; satirize our clever, yet shallow, society; and even crack jokes. But that’s not why she jots notes in her moleskine while washing dishes, playing summer tourist, or trying to endure prolonged and painful illnesses. For her, it’s about saving a life: her own and—she hopes, if she's any good at it—someone else’s. Author of Slipping Out of Bloom (WordTech Editions) and Election Day (Finishing Line Press), Julie’s most recent book of poems is Particular Scandals, published in The Poiema Poetry Series by Cascade Books in 2013. Julie lives in Cedarville, Ohio; read more about her at www.julielmoore.com.
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VNesdoly:
Delighted to see this poem from your newest book here. I know your editor (D.S. Martin) at W&S, and was aware of this book. So much going on in this poem and on several levels. I think I must get your book!
Posted 10/15/2013 10:43 AM
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Dorcas:
How beautifully you move into meaningful scripture. Remarkable. Love your style. Almost like an elongated Haiku. Thank you.
Posted 10/12/2013 06:33 PM
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Jo:
A beautiful poem, Julie.
Thank you.
Posted 10/12/2013 04:56 PM
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paradea:
I love this!
Posted 10/12/2013 03:05 PM
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penhart:
A beautiful poem, Julie! Brings back memories of the orchard across the fields behind my childhood house in Clark, NJ. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing!
Posted 10/12/2013 01:19 PM
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Ginny C.:
Beautiful!
Posted 10/12/2013 01:02 PM
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mimi:
apples and blue, and smoke too, though the burning leaves are only in my memory--the fragrances of autumn...lovely poem, thanks Julie.
Posted 10/12/2013 08:50 AM
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Larry Schug:
As one whose own apple tree is ripe for harvest, I appreciate this poem very much. As a poet, I appreciate it's language and the picture it paints, equally as much.
Posted 10/12/2013 08:27 AM
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TheSilverOne:
Having once been a kid who spent hours sitting on my perch in an apple tree, eating green apples, I can relate to these feelings.
Posted 10/12/2013 07:59 AM
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Wilda Morris:
Apple harvest - very different from Robert Frost's apple-picking poem! This poem is very "in tune" with nature.
Posted 10/12/2013 07:34 AM
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Charly:
I felt like I was standing in this wonderful, pungent world
Posted 10/12/2013 07:20 AM
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