Ode to a Black Walnut

well, not an ode, really

just a paean of praise

to that uniquely american

taste – robust says wiki

that probably says it best

the experts say to husk

when green but we always

waited til the husks

blackened laid out

on newspapers in the 

garage where it was

cool and dark

picking up from the ground

sometimes we’d husk

them on the spot

and child me luxuriated

in the brown stain that

proved me a worker

for weeks and weeks

beyond the single trek

into the woods that

was walnut time

with peanut butter fudge

chocolate ice cream

chocolate chip cookies

the english walnuts

give texture but precious

little flavor

but oh the black walnut

how it bites on the tongue

like the best Scotch 

if Scotch came in a hard

shell encased in a soft husk

the sensation sharp and clear

they taste of fall

I miss Don

he took me to all the special

places here for nuts fresh-fallen

introducing me along the way

as we trespassed by invitation-only

for Don, who walked every 

square inch of this place he could

and shared with novices like me

the eager teacher in him finding

the eager student in me

but without Don’s entre 

and lacking the skill or tools

of a good cracker, I buy

mine now from the old

ladies – somehow they’re 

the best crackers – I wonder if

it’s to do with patience?

And they too become part of the 

fall-scape – along with the 

nuts on the ground so tempting

I want to pull my car over

and pick them up from the road

and the wallers made by bears

luxuriating in the early berries

long moved on now towards

winter leaving behind the

evidence of their joy

black bears and blackened leaves

and black walnuts, now that Don

is here no more, all bespeak

fall to me 

for although Don left us in summer

it is right somehow that his Gloria

left in the fall

for that is where he would be waiting

a few nuts in his pockets and a 

smile on his face