Un-pick-apart-able

First published in Kosmos Journal in 2018

“The nourishment of Cezanne’s awkward apples is in the tenderness and alertness they awaken inside us.”
― Jane Hirshfield

A small scratched hand is pulling ripe, red currants from a bush, plucking generational knowing, while the child is chitter-chattering in the warm evening air, gritting the nutty seeds between molars, brushing an ant off a sunburnt elbow. The bucket is full to the brim with berries the neighbors did not want. Tomorrow morning, these berries will go on yogurt.

This piece is not about the importance of eating organic food, local farming, and slow-food recipes. Nor is it about the damage done in the name of consumer culture. I am assuming that, by now, those topics are givens, and that if you are reading this, you have noticed that there is a distinct possibility that no matter how much we recycle and buy organic, there is a good chance that the human species may not make it through the coming climate changes. You may have also noticed that cultural/political fissures may kill us first. You may have children in your life and find yourself longing for a magical time-bridge that would deliver them safely to the other side of the heavy shakedowns of coming years. The instinct to provide a world of future life and love is strong. But is it stronger than the idea that tomorrow will be like today? Ironically, the possibility of continuing generations requires discontinuing current ways of living.

There is salt ahead. Stinging and necessary.