hungarian harvest

different fruits ripen at different times in the summer

the memories I have of being small

are marked by harvests

cherries and meggy ripen earliest

peaches come in waves

the apricots

sárgabarack, yellowpeach

mid-june through july

the peaches' thick flesh need so much sunshine to be filled

every stripe and kind

raspberries ripen for a wide window

strawberries in late spring, intermittently into june

the goose and currant berries giving us a tart reprieve

from the sticky soup

erupting from the peaches' skin

if we stayed till late july

the blackberries would greet us

hanging heavily from thorned vines

and just once

I remember staying till august

finally tasting the plums

which remained small, and hard

all summer long

barely larger than their pit

until finally, so purple they are black

a fleshy nectar

it is the plums that hold a special place

with the liquor, the jam, the pastries

szilvás is the hagyomány

though apricots are a close second

---