Nicole Barchilon Frank: La Pêche – August 28, 2012
The longest line at Saturday’s Farmers’ Market was for the peaches at Neukom Family Farm’s stand at Eighth and H streets. Above, Abe Walston gives Jeannine Brandenburg of Eureka her crate of Babcock peaches. The Willow Creek farm also sold the last of its O’Henry peaches, but not to worry – next week, they’ll offer Elberta peaches, with four more varieties to come through early October. The farm’s delicious peaches have inspired Nicole Barchilon Frank’s poem, La Pêche, below. KLH | Eye
La Pêche
Nicole Barchilon Frank
Sounds like pehhsssssh
long and soft on the “s”
also means fish
pêcher = to fish
your peaches have hooked the sun
they swim in my mouth
Heaven encountered
by buds on my tongue
I hold this warm ball of sunshine
and the aroma swims up and dives deep
into the valleys of my being
this peach/pêche
fruit of a mother tree
tended by you
pruned of what is old
or twisted, broken or no longer of use
rainwater and dew blessed
river to cloud to drops descending down
rivulets running down, down to roots
tickled and caressed
by small creatures and many legged ones
speaking the language
of the earth and singing songs
in a language only the roots and leaves
know the secret of
top to bottom, soil enriched by your
sweat and your love
this peach has hooked the
sun who is only about 94.4 million miles away
no distance really
this peach has heard the melody of the planets
in its brown, twisting, dancing deep roots
This Neukom Family peach/pêche
is a treasure beyond measure
essentially enlivening and ennobling
the Creation and the Creator
I’m swimming in a Holy River, peachy
thanks to you, co-worker with the
Holy One, Creator of La Pêche
I’m colored completely in a soft peach light
curled up and held eternally in a mesh and web of delight
Peachy thanks to you!
