Rain hazes a street cart's green umbrella
but not its apples, heaped in paper cartons,
dry under cling film. The apple man,

who shirrs his mouth as though eating tart fruit,
exhibits four like racehorses at auction:
Blacktwig, Holland, Crimson King, Salome.

I tried one and its cold grain jolted memory:
a hill where meager apples fell so bruised
that locals wondered why we scooped them up,

my friend and I, in matching navy blazers.
One bite and I heard her laughter toll,
free as school's out, her face flushed in late sun.

I asked the apple merchant for another,
jaunty as Cezanne's still-life reds and yellows,
having more life than stillness, telling us,

uncut, unpeeled, they are not for the feast
but for themselves, and building strength to fly
at any moment, leap from a skewed bowl,

whirl in the air, and roll off a tilted table.
Fruit-stand vendor, master of Northern Spies,
let a loose apple teach me how to spin

at random, burn in light and rave in shadows.
Bring me a Winesap like the one Eve tasted,
savored and shared, and asked for more.

No fool, she knew that beauty strikes just once,
hard, never in comfort. For that bitter fruit,
tasting of earth and song, I'd risk exile.

The air is bland here. I would forfeit mist
for hail, put on a robe of dandelions,
and run out, broken, to weep and curse — for joy.

Steps

"And down and down and down,"
the toddler's mother sings 
as he clears every ledge.

Midway we cross their path.
In rain, the museum's steps 
loom like the Giant's Stairway

to Guardi's Ducal Palace. 
"And up and up and up" 
is what I do not say

as you stagger for balance. 
Once I'd scaled that summit, 
hunted over the crowd,

and saw you below, holding 
two hot dogs and white roses;
you vaulted, took the steps

two at a time, then three, 
and leaped to where we met. 
Your smile is broader now.

You see more. On this day 
of wavering, we hear 
a Triton blow the horn

where Giotto's Magi open
hands that rise in air:
up, and up, and up.