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Sport 26: Autumn 2001
Kaki
Kaki
In Japan this fruit was peeled by a mother,
cut into four and placed on a china plate.
It was almost round with skin bright orange,
its leaves folded back in a four-tongued collar.
I was given a toothpick to ear with,
a napkin to wipe juice from my chin.
I learnt that this sweet food was named kaki—
date plum, Chinese apple or persimmon.
In Italy the fruit comes to me from the hands of a woman.
It is half green, half orange, with twings still attached.
Tartness fills my mouth.
I ask a name, she gives me kaki.
The local orange plum, diospyros lotus,
has been grafted with the Japanese.
This tree now grows beside her house,
together we feed the bruised fruits to the chickens.