May 13, 2009 / Creative Writing
I watched Rebel Without a Cause on TV late one college night when I learned …
Her words take me from what I’m reading
to find out what I’d like to drink.
Apple juice, I answer, then take the can
and look to see that’s all it is.
The label informs me that the contents
of this twelve-ounce can come from
the U.S.A., Argentina, Austria,
Chile, China, Germany, and Turkey.
What I would like to drink,
I think, is the juice of apples
from the same orchard—
to taste that one place.
What I get is the taste
of everywhere and nowhere.
So I take and drink the world we squeeze.
Joel Kurz
Joel Kurz is a Lutheran pastor in Warrensburg, Missouri. He serves on the board of directors for With God’s Little Ones (www.wglo.org) and has been a contributor to the Center for the Care of Creation (www.togetherwithallcreatures.org). His poetry has appeared in Sojourners, Weavings, the Cresset, Lutheran Forum, and Friends Journal.