Late sun splashes in the summer sky,
flashes in the tears every time I see
plump ripe plums hanging in our tree,
like the juicy ones she used to buy
in brown paper bags to share with me.
Their purple musk evokes a sigh
of scents from grandmother’s scullery;
laundry in a copper, hot and bubbly,
sprigs of mint, roast on Sunday,
cloves and cinnamon in apple pie.
Kim M. Russell, 18th April 2021
Image found on dreamstime.com
My response to NaPoWriMo Day Eighteen
Today’s prompt is from Stephanie Malley, who challenges us to write a poem based on the title of one of the 60 chapters in Susan G. Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words.
I don’t know if this is cheating, but I chose two titles, ’Plum Nelly’ and ‘from my grandmother’, because my grandmother’s name was Nelly.
writing in north norfolk 
This is brimming with warm nostalgia, Kim.
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Thanks Ingrid. I often think of her.
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Beautiful and warming…like a good pie.
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Thank you, Mark.
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What a tribute. You almost made me cry.
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Thank you, Colleen.
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Laundry in a copper, and then I have a sense of the timing. Beautiful. I have a weakness for plums in poetry!
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Thank you for reading and commenting, MaxieJane!
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Yeah, great…Now I’m missing my Grammy and craving something I shouldn’t be eating. Thanks a bunch, KR.
Delicious response indeed.
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😊
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Tasty to all the senses. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Selma.
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A lovely post and a tribute to grandmas everywhere.
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Thank you, Susan!
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Definitely not cheating. I think it was especially meant to be! Lovely poem. Definitely made me long for my grandma.
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Thank you!
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so evocative Kim – your words touch with a sweet pain
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Thank you, Laura. I think of her a lot even though she died over 21 years ago. I grew up with my grandmother and learned so much from her.
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Love this, thank you, and think of Plumnellie all the time a place in Urbanda Illinois for me. Bless you and thank you, and check out my Instagram site, Susan.Wooldridge
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Oops, dictated that comment without editing it! Love your poem, honored and loved my Plum Nelly (Plum out of town Nelly in the country) a place in Urbana Illinois. Check out my Instagram, susan.Wooldridge to stay in touch💗💗💗
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Susan. I will check out your Instagram later on today.
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