Figs

looking through my kitchen window

I notice my fig bush has grown
several feet since last summer

I can no longer pull down the top limbs
to harvest the ripe, brown fruit

when contemplating my figs, I usually think of
Middle Eastern markets, hillsides, and biblical stories

but today, I think of my mother
and her two great fig bushes

she canned fig preserves
delicious on her homemade, buttered biscuits

even the butter was homemade
when we lived on the farm

but the fig bush I thought of today 
was the one behind her well house

on the barren place we bought
after selling the farm

when lightning struck and killed her fig bush
she never planted another

to my surprise, she said she was allergic to the bush
and would get figs from friends

now it comes to me
I know what she meant

I’ve learned to suit-up with long sleeves
and long pants when I pick figs

not only sensitive to the leaves but also
the scent it spreads around itself

still, I never fail to don my clothes and harvest
the bounty of the bush’s summer sweetness

standing in the yard, I eat my fill
straight from its limbs

thinking of
by-gone-times and far away hills