Making Applesauce

A winter apple with rough molted skin howls,

“Don’t lay me here!  Don’t lay me here!

Here where the red speckles on the snow spread.

Spread until the ground below me is blood.”

 

An abandoned Timex beeps a glaring wail

To remind the apple that time is still an object,

That to sit here and to bawl is to misuse time

Until the crusaders return.

 

But when the Sun invades Jupiter

And the Japanese forgive the Leprechauns,

What will these prevailing sounds amount to

If time just carries on?

 

As the horse tramples through the blood stained path,

The apple is degraded to applesauce.

While I devour the mush, my stomach assuages

To the realization that I’m lucky.

 

I am lucky to be here in the shadows

Of the Timex and the apple, the Sun and the Japanese.

So that I can learn and be like the sponge

I use to extract the blood from the muddy snow.

Author's Note

I notice in the reviews I've gotten from this poem that people have been struggling to understand what it's trying to say. To some extent that's a product of me "sitting there writing the words fascinated and amused with them knowing they are meant for you to understand and your reader to make what they will of them" but I still feel it has a message that's important to get across. So I will analyze it because I'm particularly proud of this piece. In general it is about the growth and to some extent decay of a person's soul. My using the apple as the main character signifies nothing; I was looking up the definition of the word Russet and learned it was a type of apple- I thought it had a pretty definition. And as I think about it the apple almost signifies a logical or intelligent character because of their association with teachers... but it's a stretch. Some of the things in this poem (the apple, invasion of Jupiter, relations between with leprechauns) aren't meant to mean much of anything other than the craziness that this society tells us is important and tells us to deal with and make sense of. These illogical events tend cause the logical (the apple and hopefully the reader) to go mad when trying to understand their significance. The line "Don't lie me here" expresses discontent with the situation (society) that the character has been placed in and the poem continues to describe what that's like. A place with problems, hard to get at that keep spreading (blood spreading in the snow). I address this world's obsession with classifying and needing to know by addressing time. I note that these elements of society make the logical feel worthless. At this time we are most vulnerable, which is why now is when the apple is degraded, as opposed to when it was just sad but not inflicting self insignificance. But what remains of that character and their experience still holds a treasure of knowledge, wisdom, power and substance (food: applesauce, history: the plot of the poem). It's at this time when the focus of the poem moves away from time and the craziness society throws at us signifying that it is unimportant-- the moment is what's important. And if one takes advantage of and analyzes the remains of those before us and even craziness society gives you can help fix the situation you're in. Something I didn't fit in, am not sure how to fit in, haven't really thought about putting in until now, but really want to fit in is: that one is obliged to inflict positive change and is insignificant/should be damned if one doesn't do so.

You're really cool if you read my dorky analysis. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Reviews

[Z]

I love some of the imagery you use here, especially the last lines referring to the sponge and it's old and new uses, it is as if you die and are reborn in those two lines! i also like poets that give character to lifeless objects like your apples.

well done!

[Jason Henry]

awesome i'm cool! i think you ought to be very proud of yourself...this is exceptional work. i couldnt help but race from line to line i jus wanted so badly to know what's next what's next?! the reviews preceding mine just don't give you the reward, praise and accolades you deserve for such an outstanding piece of literature...this poem is so much more than just "oo, neat! i luv applesause yum"

...sooo much more.

[~crazy Beautiful~]

great use of metaphor
i visualized this quite easily as i read
nice work
thank ou for entering my contest

[Danielle Asher]

there is something about the apple imagery i really like- apples to apple sauce. I will be honest, I do not totally understand your choices here, but it is a piece i appreciate because of that. I can picture the writer (well you but i don't know you) sitting there writing the words fascinated and amused with them knowing they are meant for you to understand and your reader to make what they will of them.
I enjoy!

Thanks!
peace,
Danielle

[Travis Lawrence]

So creative! I like all the metaphors and allusions, of apples and time and such. Well done.

[Kara Emily Krantz]

... i actually really liked this!!! very unique, well presented... great images. great set up. i dont know - it's just a really great piece. it's perhaps a little too abstract for me to pull something very tangible from it, but i really dont care, lol - i enjoyed it a lot

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

An interesting poem .. lots of good metaphors.. i like it .. well done .. sorry for a short review.. need to get off here.. see you again later..

Chloe
xoxo