TRIAL: Boon

“From Blossoms,” by Li-Young Lee

Boon

You didn’t travel down the road and meet enemies and allies and go through a whole ordeal in an inner cave for nothing — there’s a boon at the end of this trial. A boon you get to take back with you on your return.

And it’s no MacGuffin. This is a boon you need. Maybe the world needs it.

“From Blossoms”

A boon doesn’t need to be gold. It can come from blossoms, specifically peach blossoms.

One reason I adore Li-Young Lee’s poem “From Blossoms” is that I live in peach country. Tourists and locals visit our roadside stands labeled with hand-painted signs to purchase fruit that tastes like summer. But within each peach is also the taste of its year of growth — its trials with drought or hail or pests become part of its flavor.

When we taste, we “take what we love inside” and live, for a while, on the fruit of blossoms. We live on this hard-won boon.

Be a Hero

The last few days have been cold for March, following a few weeks that felt like full spring. But a few extra chill hours are just what our county’s peaches need to become sweet in time for summer’s harvest. Some we will eat fresh and some we will cut up and freeze.

Because we may need our boon most when we’re closer to the winter solstice than the summer one.

What does the poem say about your hero’s journey?
Try to learn at least a little of it by heart.
If you like, email me at megan.willome@yahoo.com.

 

P.S. Now that we have our peach-boon in hand, we’ll take a little break from the Hero’s Poetry Journey while I get ready for my April poetry-art show at Fredericksburg Art Guild. 

See you after Easter as we continue the Hero’s Poetry Journey with our Return.