to a pear

Gold cherry

By Di_Hard

Sat, 05 Nov 2022
  • 4819 reads
40 comments
 

on the top shelf

of our Co Op's reduced to clear section

alone

an economy bag of pears

knobbly green and slightly bruised

as a Martian footballer's knee caps...

 

there is a millisecond when each life is perfect

in a pear -

too early, it is hard, with no experience to savour, flavourless

too late and it is pulpy dull

as existence without surprise

 

but if it's there, at its peak

a pear is Heaven, and because it was -

the one I had just now - with golden juice

trickling down my wrist

the lusciousness of it, almost wholly sweet but 

elusive sharp-shone through and through, like

taste was new

 

I had to write this, to remember

knowing bliss

 

 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

You've caught your delight and the enjoyment handed to you, unplannable! Rhiannon

(I grabbed some pears either surplus to someone's pickings, or too uncertain to put in the foodbank, at church a couple of weeks ago, and got them cooked and frozen, not sure of when to eat fresh!)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou Rhiannon :0) That's just it you never do know, so it is a lovely surprise when they are just right :0) What do you do with frozen pears? Crumbles and stuff? Do you have any tips for what to do with extra ones?

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Yes, it's crumbles mostly for me, and usually mixed with apples or other fruit. I've been freezing a lot of quince someone wasn't using recently and they are very similar to pears (though very hard to cut, but cook quickly, and again I tend to mix with apples, but you don't need to). Rh

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou! I have never had a quince. Have read they smell amazing

 

 

Submitted by celticman on

bit of Rabbie Burns to a mouse, to a louse, to a pear. 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

:0) Thankyou CM, Burns would have fitted in some genius stuff about rights or religion

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

How lovely - and you're completely right. It's a rare thing to find, but a perfect pear is perfection!

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

yes :0) Thankyou very much for the cherries :0)

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

What a juicy poem Di, you had my mouth watering thinking about that pear. You're right too, about the three stages it takes to be perfect.

A lush read indeed.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou Jenny, you are very kind to say that, wasn't sure that bit worked

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

The Martian footballer's kneecaps - brilliant analogy! 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou Jane! My son is trying to write/supposed to be writing/completely ignoring till the night before it should be emailed to his tutor a script of an alien's podcast, so Martians are on my mind

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Facebook and Twitter pick of the Day!

Please share/retweet if you enjoyed it as much as I did

Picture Credit:https://tinyurl.com/4znskubs

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou so much, was really not expecting that!

 

Submitted by catherine poarch on

It wouldn't be a pear for me but  - having to write to remember - that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? It's a lovely poem, humour and wistfulness and not quite sure where it's going to end up and then it lands on what we all know. smiley

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou Catherine, that's a very kind comment - am wondering what your favourite fruit is :0)

 

Submitted by marandina on

"I had to write this, to remember

knowing bliss..."

 

And captured so evocatively. I can visualise that very pear which is a testament to the power of your poem. Congrats on the well deserved Pick, Di. Paul :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou so much Paul! It was a very quick one to write, feel a fraud, but am very glad if you like it :0)

 

Submitted by Kilb50 on

I loved the Martian footballer's kneecaps...and I really must make an apple & pear crumble soon...your delicious poem Di has made me hot for pears! 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou! I do hope you don't mind me asking, and I am not trying to nag you, but, are you still writing the story set in the Civil War?

 

Submitted by Kilb50 on

 

 

Submitted by Kilb50 on

Hello Di - Yes, I finished it, had a couple of rejections, but I'm hoping to publish it next year, either through an indie publisher or as a self publishing project. 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

That's BRILLIANT!!! I look forward so much to reading the whole story! Daft publishers. Hope you have good luck with everything from now on and it turns out how you want it to. Thankyou very much for letting me know

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I enjoyed this tribute Di. I've always thought of pears as in a league of their own, less popular than apples but not exotic either and somehow used to describe when a situation gone wrong (pear shaped). Poor pears and yet they're flavour is unique 'like taste was new'.  

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou so much Jane, yes, a league of their own is right, something special in our predictable world about a fruit wehich seems so willful as to bestowing its best :0)

 

Submitted by animan on

I can't decide which I enjoyed more: the poem or the chat? Well, the poem of course, but I really enjoyed the chat too. All so lovely and human. I really like how, in the poem, you somehow make the separate bits of syntax collide into each other and manage to bring that series of collisions to a higher level when exploring the bliss in an ecstasy of pearishness when discussing pears at their peak when taste becomes something not experienced before, because it feels so extreme, so immeasurable!

(I was always a bit rubbish at Math (Maths, surely!!) so I hope I manage the fiendish question that currently perplexes me! So, if you take 15 and add 0ne,that's ... um. Wish me luck!)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Ah, the chat :0) That's the whole point :0) Thankyou very much for reading and commenting, (and adding to it!) that is very kind. I liked your poem a lot

 

Submitted by animan on

Hi, I like this poem so much that I was wondering if I could use it within a set of GCSE-level materials for students, particularly as I think it's so good to get up-to-the-minute text and not only use texts from people who are out of copyright, given the seventy-year rule. This teaching set focuses on evaluating texts, within set criteria, and understanding why they work for the reader. It's only an online handout, available only to myself at the moment and probably won't develop beyond that, but I was wondering if I could use it with full attribution of course to your pen name and the source origin in that context and how much you would want to charge for that level of copyright agreement. I can use something else of course but I was keen to see if something was feasible with this poem of that type. I hope you don't mind my asking.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

THANKYOU!!!  Wow, that is so great to hear, no one has ever wanted one of my poems before :0) Of course you can have it,if you think it would be ok! I don't know anything about copyright I am afraid. How much seems right to you?

 

Submitted by catherine poarch on

I'm so glad you said yes, Di! I wanted to reply before and say woohoo and go for it! I hope your students love it too, animan.

 

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