POeT SHOTS is a monthly series published on the third Tuesday of the month. It features work by established writers followed by commentary and insight by Ed Krizek.
From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee
From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.
From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
This is one of my favorite poems by Li Young Lee. The poem has the understated beauty present in much of his work. In it, Lee takes us from a casual journey past an orchard (/at the bend in the road/ where we turned toward the sign painted peaches.) to the hands that picked the peaches (/from laden boughs, from hands,) to the human desire for immortality (/O, to take what we love inside /to carry within us an orchard to eat).
Some days we take in all of life (/not only the skin but the shade,) We are exuberant and joyful at the prospect of living. (There are days we live/ as if death were nowhere in the background;) We live with our happiness, our “impossible” happiness which is as fragile and beautiful as the blossoms. These are times when one loves life and approaches a sense of the divine.
Lee gives us a picture of what it feels like to touch our spirituality in an ordinary way. This is the feeling one can get from walking in nature or at dinner with a significant other. It is somewhat like what Zen Buddhists call “satori”, a moment of enlightenment that occurs without effort. With Lee we are enlightened by the ordinary experience of eating a peach to the wonder that life exists at all.
Ed Krizek holds a BA and MS from University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA and MPH from Columbia University. For over twenty years Ed has been studying and writing poetry. He is the author of six books of poetry: Threshold, Longwood Poems, What Lies Ahead, Swimming With Words, The Pure Land, and This Will Pass. All are available on Amazon. Ed writes for the reader who is not necessarily an initiate into the poetry community. He likes to connect with his readers on a personal level.