I cannot remember the last time I saw a pear tree. I don't know why, but pears are one of those fruits that I can't imagine growing on trees. They seem too delicate and blushing for such a rigorous existence. Well, I saw a pear tree in a backyard in Milwaukee. It did not seem loved, but I knew that we could not get it on the top of our Subaru and back to Buffalo in one piece.
Study of Two Pears
I
Opusculum paedagogum.
The pears are not viols,
Nudes or bottles.
They resemble nothing else.
II
They are yellow forms
Composed of curves
Bulging toward the base.
They are touched red.
III
They are not flat surfaces
Having curved outlines.
They are round
Tapering toward the top.
IV
In the way they are modelled
There are bits of blue.
A hard dry leaf hangs
From the stem.
V
The yellow glistens.
It glistens with various yellows,
Citrons, oranges and greens
Flowering over the skin.
VI
The shadows of the pears
Are blobs on the green cloth.
The pears are not seen
As the observer wills.
Our other exciting find in Milwaukee, not counting our great friends and the pear tree above, was a labyrinth on the grounds of Mount Mary College. It was patterned after the labyrinth on the floor of the nave of Chartres Cathedral. While that one is grand, this one is humble. While that one requires a transatlantic flight, this one waits unassumingly for anyone to stumble across.
It pleased me.
Labyrinth at Mount Mary College, Milwaukee
Pattern for labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, France
The dog didn't quite get it.
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