Summer Bodies 1

I'm lying beneath a fruit tree that the boys and I have puzzled over.

A crab apple tree maybe? I'm the only one who's risked a taste

Sour and mealy and crunchy, she's delicious in her own way.

The grass is cool under my back, the sun is high but doesn't burn me at these Northern latitudes.

If I relax just a hair, I can feel the whole earth breathing, a pleasant sigh that will give way to sweet inhale as the day turns to night.

That's how I feel with these boys, too. The breathing comes easy, and the heart and belly feel open, soft.

So, I breathe, and argue with the boys about the shape of apple leaves, dying by poison fruit, and knowledge of good and evil, giggling and cursing when Alex shakes the tree to bring apples down on us all.