RELATIONSHIP Poem: Plotted Fulfillment, by Suzanne Ondrus

The tart green mottled apples
from my family’s yard feed me
in a way no store bought ones can.

With them inside me I take
root on my family’s small plot,
I travel back forty years to when

the tree was solid and strong
and its apples abundant.

I remember my sister’s blond hair
as a child,
our family together fighting
the fire in the corral
and the big apples we once had.

Now, I eat whatever small turnup
of an apple
I can get from this tree
and take mourning
in my mouth,
uncertain when its core
will finally
fully crack, severing the tree apart.

I tell myself I must plan
for the future,
plant seeds of this tree
so its memory
can continue to live,

its fruit forever in our veins,
filtering in from our tongues,
even if our feet
might no longer be
on the family plot.