Fruits of the Earth

Enjoy autumn with an anthology of poems from around the world and through the ages that celebrate fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and spices, and their meaning in our lives.

poems harvested in this volume includes many beloved old chestnuts, such as Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking,” Emily Dickinson’s “Forbidden fruit a flavor has,” Gwendolyn Brooks’s “The Bean Eaters,” and the famous chilled plums in William Carlos Williams’s “This Is Just to Say.” But there are many other delights to discover as well: Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to the Artichoke,” Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry Picking,” Jane Hirshfield’s “Green-Striped Melons,” Eugenio Montale’s “The Lemons,” Charles Simic’s “Watermelons,” Paul Valéry’s “Pomegranates,” Nâzim Hikmet’s “The Cucumber,” Rita Dove’s “Parsley,” Sylvia Plath’s “Mushrooms,” and Michael Ondaatje’s “The Cinnamon Peeler.”

Peaches, figs, asparagus, olives, onions, peppers, nuts, coffee, chocolate, saffron, and nutmeg—the range of subjects is sure to whet the appetites of poetry lovers everywhere.