heavily laden

Heavily laden with fruit
the persimmon tree demonstrates an
awkward sort of resilience:

leaf-less, gawky, it would look life-less,
or life-losing, bedecked in so many balls that its
branches give the impression of over-burden.
Yet the unexpectedly glowing orange skin of the tasteless fruits
defies the season to brighten the street.

Heavily laden with fruit
the persimmon tree demonstrates an
awkward sort of resilience,
its spring-like color antithetical,
its cargo both weighing down the tree and enlivening it.

jungle gym

Maybe now I understand how the jungle gym feels
when small feet batter its limbs:
the child's heels dig into the metal with security;
his feet lift from the structure, and return to it, joyful:
he may be bruising my thighs as he kicks off from them, arms encircling my neck,
to feel the rise of a wave from safety,
but I feel no violence enacted upon me.
Bouncing here, shoulder-deep in the sea,
I feel only the trusting tug of his fingers on my hair,
the warm kiss of his tiny lips as he clings to me
between ecstatic rounds of freedom.