Shohola Orchard, A Poem by Jim Culleny

Below is Jim's poem about the River House in Shohola. You can also find it here on his blog.

(My musings about the River House in Shohola can be found here.)


I’m planting an orchard in Shohola
–a river runs through there
and the light is good for apples
and other living things

The place is filled with riches:
eagles fly overhead on thermals preying,
rafters happen by laughing, waving

We have a boat I can use
to row out and, like a brown
Tahitian gentleman, offer red Cortlands
or Braeburns; or (if I’ve so chosen),

a pear or a plum

My wife of many years is here
and my kids come by with theirs,
friends show up every now and then
–the old ones dripping with nostalgia
but who also know enough to
be here now

Copping a line from an old poet,
I could do worse than to plant
an orchard in Shohola
…………………
Jim Culleny;  January 2009