The Winning Poems
Image (photograph)

MAURICE'S APPLES
Stephen Boyce

Of twenty impressions this is number five -
      not including the artist's proof -
           the variations hardly perceptible,
perhaps the tone veers towards sepia
though the fruit's shape and ample size are fine
      and the texture of skin accurate,
            slightly coarse to the touch,
                  streaked with fire.

And the knife laid beside is right - he would quarter
     the fruit cleanly, neatly prising out the core's curve
to leave a little boat rocking on its green hull.

The evening glow is at odds
     with what he would call a breakfast apple
best eaten straight from the tree
      in the cool of the morning, flesh crisp
            between the teeth, satisfying to the bite,
not tart but tangy, a man-woman apple,
     starting out brash, pleased with itself,
           cocksure, demanding
later becoming rather blowsy, warm-hearted
      enduring, a Sunday apple.

The image pleases the eye first of all
      and, like the apple itself,
            is well proportioned, keen and voluptuous,
promises to quench both hunger and thirst.

Copyright of this poem remains with the author.
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