This Is Earl...

We all have secret patches, the berry pickers among us, Earl and Daryl are pseudo-personalities of the author and a dear friend who frequently, quite frankly, indulge in a little bit of 'CB back and forth' on cell phones or in person, fuzz and static included, about supposed patches and their 'readiness'. We have never, however, 'radioed' from the patch, but, instead, do so during the off season when were bored and feel like pretending that one of us is in, on the way to the patch, or coming back, enjoying the fruits of our labor, and open to imagining that we're not alone in this endeavor. I would like to credit my dear friend's uncle, to the best of my knowledge, for sparking this ongoing skit, as we were audience to his proud return from a secret raspberry patch during the summer of '07 and props to the spirit of a long hike in the woods around a particular park near Duluth. See "Take A Hike", but don't expect to find any patches.

The following poem is of Earl lamenting in his solitude. It was written during my first weekend taking care of the farm.

~

~

From the top of the world
feeling the sway of the wind
blowing against heavily laden
branches

Daryl?

You There?

Gotta reach for those red ones
in a cherry tree almost sixty
feet tall*

Who's here to share this with me?
I stretch and feel the wind help
me reach

The setting sun is idyllic against
my bronzed arm reaching,
stretching, teaching me new forms
of the ski trick, "cherry picker"
grasping the branch, I wrap my
arm to stabilize my perilous monkey-
like instincts and pluck the succulent
fresh tree ripened cherry berry

~

*Author's Note: Normally a Cherry Tree wouldn't be allowed to reach this height, due to the problems of picking cherries so far from the ground. I can not imagine the amount of fruit trees around the world that are in this state. Portland Fruit Tree Project is just one of many gleaners that work to put fruit that would normally end up on the ground, in people's stomachs. Dan, my boss, who used to manage an apple orchard, tells me that "trees are pruned to make ease of picking and a tree's productivity come together in the most valuable way."