Poem of the Week: Winter Apples

There is something in the sight of winter apples
hugging the highest branch in mid-December.
A dim burn glistens from the frosted skin,
like sunlight budding through a fog.
And there is sweetness and sharpness in the flesh,
the virtue of the blameless, the long hill yet to climb.

John MacKenna's most recent book is Absent Friend (The Harvest Press), a memoir of his friendship with Leonard Cohen. He teaches creative writing at Maynooth University and The Hedge School on the Moone.