Death by Fruit, a Halloween Poem

 

Death by Fruit

Kay Ryan

Only the crudest
of the vanitas set
ever thought you had to get
a skull into the picture
whether you needed
its tallowy color
near the grapes or not.
Others, stopping to consider
shapes and textures,
often discovered that
eggs or aubergines
went better, or leeks,
or a plate of string beans.
A skull is so dominant.
It takes so much
bunched up drapery,
such a ponderous
display of ornate cutlery,
just to make it less prominent.
The greatest masters
preferred the subtlest vanitas,
modestly trusting to fruit baskets
to whisper ashes to ashes,
relying on the poignant exactness
of oranges to release
like a citrus mist
the always fresh fact
of how hard we resist
how briefly we’re pleased.

How hard we resist, how briefly we're pleased. Hmm, that resonates.

I'm feeling gratitude for the trees I pass on my walk to work each day, changing their colors. They remind me that nothing is static and to appreciate this particular shade of golden yellow right now.

peace (don't eat too much candy!),
Jen