Gabrielle Campagnano
APPLES ON THE CUTTING BOARD

It started a simple gesture—
my father a question about
peeling apples best
and when to leave them alone.

The sun ripened over
our kitchen window
and soon we were picking
seven tons of fruit.

How can I get their skin off?
And when will they know?

Do we bite into them naked?
For what occasion
is it best to dress with cream
and love them?

Baskets of sun-buttered fruit.
We were little thieves ready
with cutters.
And then breadcrumbs.

My father standing over me
the great celebrator and
the great undresser of things:
I obeyed and peeled
and lobbed the skin off.

Fat apples on the table
nice apostles
does it feel okay
if we come back for your brothers?

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Gabrielle Campagnano is an MFA candidate at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and teaches at The Foote School in New Haven, CT. She is at work on her first full-length collection of poems.

Image Credit: capacitorphoto / 123RF Stock Photo

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #8.