THE BEAUTIFUL CONSOLATION OF APRICOTS

Apricot trees yield are flush with beautiful blossoms right now. Soon they will be blushing with  delicate, luscious, sensuous fruit. Get inspired to revel in apricots this spring via Diane Ackerman’s gorgeous poem, “The Consolation of Apricots.”

THE CONSOLATION OF APRICOTS, BY DIANE ACKERMAN

Especially in early spring,

when the sun offers a thin treacle of warmth,

I love to sit outdoors

and eat sense-ravishing apricots.

Born on sun-drenched trees in Morocco,

the apricots have flown the Atlantic

like small comets, and I can taste

broiling North Africa in their flesh.

Somewhere between a peach and a prayer,

they taste of well water

and butterscotch and dried apples

and desert simooms and lust.

Sweet with a twang of spice,

a ripe apricot is small enough to devour

as two hemispheres.

Ambiguity is its hallmark.

How to eat an apricot:

first warm its continuous curve

in cupped hands, holding it

as you might a brandy snifter,

then caress the velvety sheen

with one thumb, and run your fingertips

over its nap, which is shorter

than peach fuzz, closer to chamois.

Tawny gold with a blush on its cheeks,

an apricot is the color of shame and dawn.

One should not expect to drink wine

at mid-winter, Boethius warned.

What could be more thrilling

than ripe apricots out of season,

a gush of taboo sweetness

to offset the savage wistfulness of early spring?

Always eat apricots at twilight,

preferably while sitting in a sunset park,

with valley lights starting to flicker on

and the lake spangled like a shield.

Then, while a trail of bright ink tattoos the sky,

notice how the sun washes the earth

like a woman pouring her gaze

along her lover’s naked body,

each cell receiving the tattoo of her glance.

 

Wait for that moment

of arousal and revelation,

then sink your teeth into the flesh of an apricot.

 

From I Praise My Destroyer (Random House).

Poet, essayist, and naturalist Diane Ackerman is the author of two dozen highly acclaimed works of nonfiction and poetry. Learn more about her here.  

Read more about Magnificent Trees in These Magnificent Trees Deserve & Need A Visit, Trees Can Make You More Beautiful Now,

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Flicks by Rizwan. “Trees of Apricots in Machlu Village.” Gilgit Baltistan, Northern Areas of Pakistan.
2. Image: by Tilly Sfortunato. “Pianta di albicocche.”
3. Image: by Roberto Pla.
4. Image: by Toshiyuki IMAI. “Ume blossoms.”
5. Image: by DixieBelleCupcakeCafe. “Apricot Cupcakes.”
6. Image: by coloredby.
7. Image: by coloredby.
8. Image: by JR P. “Winter in the Atlanta Botanical Garden- Prunus mume - Peggy Clarke."
9. Image: by Peter Prehn. “Shall We Dance?”
10. Image: by Foodista.
11. Image: by TT mk2. “Hofu Tenmangu & Japanese apricot.” Tianfu Palace. Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
12. Image: by Foodista.
13. Image: by Jim Culp. “Apricots.”
14. Image: by Ian Dolphin. “Apricot.”