POETRY
Apple Picking With Wizards
The magical healing of mountains
The technique is to position the ladder among the branches of the tree so you can fill the bag before moving the ladder again.
It’s not as easy as it looks, what with the turning and twisting, wet leaves slapping at your face, sinews taut as you lay claim to the first fruit.
Still, there aren’t too many places I’d rather be than here, the sun laying down sheets across the valley, the quiet grandeur of the Jura range on one side, the fearsome Alps on the other, snowy and gaunt, white-haired, like so many Gandalfs coming up over the pass.
I wonder they might raise their collective staff and send a jolt of lightning to the lumbar regions of my back, release me from this knot of pain.
