The Best Laid Plans

Of apple tree growers

Hello, Party People!

What do you do when projects don’t go as planned?

new spring buds compete
with dead fall leaves that lingered
on sick apple tree

Pruning

Pruning my apple tree,
I’m not as spry as I used to be.
Stuck between two limbs,
There’s a lot you can see
High up in my apple tree

Artist Note

Both of today’s poems are inspired by true events. One of my Red Jonathan apple trees is sicker than I thought. While pruning it, I discovered several branches high up in the tree that had buds and dead leaves that never fell in fall. In a few cases, I had to cut much more of the branch back than I had planned to prevent blight from spreading.

I also had a few moments where I was not sure I was going to be able to get down from the tree. K, my 18-year-old, and trusty ladder holder, found my less-than-graceful climb down hilarious. She was not wrong.

What do you do when a project goes south on you? Do you calmly rework your plan? Do you panic? I tend to rage quit, sulk, and then go back and find a new way to get the thing done. One day I’ll be zen enough to skip the rage and the sulking. But not today.

Publishing Note

One of the best, and most surprising things to have happened to me as a result of doing this newsletter is having people create their own art after being inspired by something I’ve published. I love hearing that and seeing the beautiful things people have created. I especially love when people discover the power of writing poetry in general, and haiku in particular.

Yesterday, two great newsletters gave me a shoutout because something I wrote sparked them.

Priya Iyer

wrote a beautiful reflection on what home means and Raphy Mendoza of

Three Things Weekly

shared a deep poem about looking at the world without our filters.

Be the poetry you want to see in the world!

Cheers,

Jason