they tell me you know
how to eat apples right
down to nothing
you leave just the small
wooden stems they used
to cling to the tree

they say you bite into
the firm round flesh
without blinking
and orchards evaporate overnight

but your fingers don’t know
the sticky sweet smell
of corruption
in your hands the apple
is too civilized
to bleed

your ears hear no crying
you see no collateral
damage as you set
the canker-worms free

dorothy sjoholm

To read other poems by Dorothy, please click on the links below:

Country Song

Atonement

Games