“Lemon Tree,” by Eric Cruz (Poetry ’20)

“Lemon Tree,” a poem by 2020 alum Eric Cruz, was recently featured in Gulf Coast. Read an excerpt below:

Lemon Tree

It sits where the shadows of other trees
slide in late afternoon, dug deep and patted
down. Touched by a breeze, then still,
the green skin of soon-to-be sour
fruit bends the branches, fruit that will be,
in a week or less, halved and left
to float in sugared water for the children.
It is a small thing—this point in the future—
but the man who planted this tree
listens to it as if it were an orchestra tuning.

Read the poem in its entirety here: https://gulfcoastmag.org/journal/33.2-summer/fall-2021/lemon-tree-eric-cruz/