Plum Tree

The older I get, the simpler things get

Photo by Shahab Vejdanian on Unsplash

Today, I imagined everything I owned
had reduced itself
down to a singular plum tree –
the kind an 85-year old Japanese poet,
sipping sake,
likes to tend at the end of the day.

This plum tree,
this solitary plum tree,
had suddenly become the still, ripe center of my life –
the axis around which all my desires dissolve,
stunned as I am,
purple fruit everywhere.

Illustration: Barbara Bash. Created at a live performance of “Unspoken Word” in Kingston, NY, 5/21/23

Excerpted from “Unspoken Word: Love Longing & Letting Go”
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CONTACT: mitch@ideachampions.com.