THE APPLE TREE
I looked at the apple tree today,
the one the storm did not take,
and saw it still full of apples,
mottled, green/red fruit, some
rotted through with ants eating
at the brown-turning flesh
and I thought of the last months
and what was ripening inside you
and we still didn’t know….
when your breasts were like
the now ripening apples,
globes of heaviness, topped with brown nipples.
–
They lay cradled in my hands warm with life
and I could feel them pulse,
the river inside still flowing.
–
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2011, “White Cranes of Heaven”, Lulu.com
Tags: "White Cranes of Heaven", 'The Apple Tree', Breast cancer, lulu.com, OneStopPoetry.com, poetry
Lady Nyo's Weblog 
July 12, 2011 at 4:55 pm
How sad. “…and we still didn’t know.”
Lady NYO, is this about someone you know? Or you??? Sorry to even ask, but your words are so beautifully touching–and personal.
PEACE!
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July 12, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Hi Steve,
they are personal, but they are also what every woman lives under, this particular and very personal threat.
Thank you, Steve, for reading and your comment.
Peace.
Lady Nyo
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July 12, 2011 at 9:20 pm
♥ on behalf of all those I know who have survived and those who have not…thank you.
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July 12, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I read this several times…poignant and written with great naturalness. // Peter.
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July 12, 2011 at 9:55 pm
whew…i am sorry…a very evocative write…makes me think of a few women i know…nice lady nyo….
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July 12, 2011 at 10:06 pm
It be nice if after all the money they get, they’d actually find a cure for this and all the rest. Very touching write!
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July 12, 2011 at 11:24 pm
A difficult topic handled with depth and finesse. Fine writing, Jane.
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July 12, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Oh Jane, my heart reaches out to you today. This poem is such a wonderful synopsis of what so very many endure. I attend Gilda’s club as a supporter for a couple of my friends, and even though I know they want me there and I am embraced by the group, I still feel like there’s a big sign on my forehead saying: ‘fraud’.
I’ve never read anything like this that expresses so poetically, so gracefully; sorrow around the loss of cancer.
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July 13, 2011 at 12:30 am
Thank you, Elizabeth,
I think people with cancer want others to embrace. Still, the onus of cancer separates those with from those without.
Thank you, Elizabeth for reading and your very graceful and delicate comment. Lovely!
Hugs,
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:31 am
Thank you, Joy.
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:32 am
I agree Pat.
We are told so many conflicting things about cancer. Read Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s books and you get a different perspective.
Thank you Pat, for reading and your comment.
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:33 am
Hi Brian,
It seems that cancer, breast, prostate, etc…is on the increase, despite all these medical technologies.
Thank you, Brian for reading and your comment.
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:34 am
Hi Peter!
Thank you. and thank you for reading and your lovely comment.
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:34 am
Hi Laura,
Many more survive than before…and that’s good!
Thank you for reading and your lovely comment.
Hugs,
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 12:37 am
I am sorry. A beautiful and moving poem.
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July 13, 2011 at 12:37 am
Very touching indeed. Those who have it, are suffering or have survived it are brave and courageous indeed.
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July 13, 2011 at 12:48 am
beautiful..your words, your intent, your compassion.
the last 3 lines are a poem unto themselves.
well done..
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July 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Thank you, Juluca.
I had to reread the poem to see what you were referring to! LOL!
Thank you so much for reading and your lovely comment.
Lady Nyo
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July 13, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Thank you, Heaven.
I don’t know how courageous….but everyone wants to live.
Thank you for reading and your comment, Heaven.
Lady Nyo
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July 13, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Thank you, Ayala.
Early yet, but we will see. I am encouraged by all those women who have survived and risen above all the mess.
Thank you, Ayala for reading and your comment. I like this poem, too. Wrote it 2 (?) years ago…and never thought about it much.
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 1:32 pm
This really strikes home for me. Amazing write.
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July 13, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Thank you, Raven.
Thank you for reading “The Apple Tree” and leaving a comment.
Hugs,
Lady Nyo
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July 13, 2011 at 2:23 pm
a tender and poignant metaphor for a woman’s loss… i have so many friends who have experienced it. the curse of this disease, and others, is a blight we must endure, but i pray that we all may find light at the end of it…
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July 13, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Hi Leslie….
Yes , it seems so widespread now. Perhaps the only ‘good’ to come of it is that we grow, hopefully, if we survive it. I think we can never really be the same.
Thank you for reading and your comment.
Lady Nyo
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July 13, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Jane
I apologize for not communicating recently. email me and we’ll talk.
This poem is heavy, like the apples, with and unnamed fear, a beast dark and powerful.
I don’t need to know particulars. It speaks to me of my own past losses-and I think a good poem speaks to the individual reader about their own experience. Beautiful, frightening. You are growing stronger in your poetry. I love reading it.
Love, Katie
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July 13, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Ah, Katie!
Coming from you, one of the strongest poets I know, is praise indeed!
I was thinking of you last night….one of the many times I got up to pee…LOL!
Yes, a poem should stand in for many things…they don’t have to be particular to one subject or issue….past losses is enough. Each poem should reflect something inside the reader,…it should have something of a universal appeal…to the heart and experience of the reader,
Otherwise, hang it on your bathroom wall! LOL! I got some that belong there….
Thank you, Katie, for reading and your lovely comment.
Hugs,
Jane
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July 13, 2011 at 8:23 pm
i somehow knew from the first line that this would go deep – and still it hit me like a rocket…i know women who fought and won and this is an amazing write
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July 13, 2011 at 8:47 pm
This was a piece that made me feel heavy with emotions for EVERY woman I have ever known!
Cheers to us all…
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July 13, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Hey Claudia!
Winning is better than losing in this case!
Thank you for reading “The Apple Tree” and your affirming comment!
Hugs,
Lady Nyo
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July 14, 2011 at 6:58 pm
strong piece.. sorry to hear it is personal, it was just very beautifully said, and I was about to ask before I saw Steve’s comment and your reply to it, Lady Nyo..
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July 16, 2011 at 3:26 am
Dear Jane
Ahh!!! It was a pleasure to read you again after a long time Lady, I was busy with things that were all around me…. and my business and then the trip to Europe last weeks… but to come back and read this one…. so pleasurable…
This one is a beauty… full of life and then the thoughts on growing.. feeling and the essence that is within… and from the apple tree to the breast… the transition of thoughts so perfect like the flowing of river within….
Enjoyed your last lines… wow.
‘They lay cradled in my hands warm with life
and I could feel them pulse,
the river inside still flowing.’
Lovely… thanks for sharing… Good that I am back here again and got this treat.
Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/07/whispers-cuckoos-song-and-smell-of-love.html
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July 16, 2011 at 3:32 am
Shashi you Devil!
Where have you been? Well, you covered that , but still……
Now with Oneshot closing down we will have to find a new venue. Brian has something developing and I am very hopeful.
Thank you, dear friend, for reading “The Apple Tree” and your lovely comment.
Will write to you soon.
Hugs,
Jane
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