Weekly Poetry Challenge four

Apple PIcking as a Young Man

Apple PIcking as a Young Man

My father grew up
On an Apple farm
In Yakima, Washington.

He was a college professor
At San Francisco State.
Had two months off
Every summer.

We spend the summers
In Yakima at our summer cabin.

But we also spent
A lot of time
At the farm

Working as unpaid
Farm laborers.

As both my Uncle
And Father
Thought that experience.

Would be a good one
Would install a life-time
Appreciation for honest labor.

We could eat as many apples
As we wanted.

After ten years of this labor
I no longer went to the cabin.

But to this day
I don’t like eating
A whole apple.

Can only eat it
If it is cut up
Into smaller pieces.