Falling Apples

Camryn Jones '26

Falling Apples

The air turned crisp, 

like the fresh breath of a newborn

I hang on the tree

With the perfect shade of crimson red

I was a diamond in a sea of glass

Small children skip by

Dashing to the apples that catch their eye

Delightfully plucking them off the branches 

Yelling, “Mom look at the one I got”

While I wait on the side 

To be the one they choose

As winter approached the air turned cold 

I became a darker scarlet red 

I had no crunch left

Less and less people came 

Bundled in their hats

Chilled by the breeze of the oncoming snow

I sit waiting to be picked

By the end of the season, I was the only one left

I felt worthless as I fell to the ground

With the plump

And a splat

I lay mushed 

Never to be picked.

Author’s note: 

This poem is written from the first-person perspective of an apple in the apple orchard. The apple is very excited to be picked at the beginning of the season (fall), but it gets sadder throughout the poem because nobody has picked it. In the end, the apple loses its strength and happiness and ultimately ends up falling. This poem is a metaphor for when people feel worthless, and it makes them sad. As the apple realizes that it may never get picked, it begins to grow sadder. Along with this, the poem can also be used to represent how, during wintertime, many people get sad and lonely due to the weather. Another metaphor in the poem is in the beginning when it says, “I was a diamond in a sea of glass” (5), meaning that the apple was one of a kind. The apple was very confident in itself and thought it was better than the rest of the apples.  This poem also portrays personification, making the apple seem real. Apples can’t “wait on the side” or feel worthless, but making the apple feel these feelings is a use of personification. Another use of figurative language is seen in the beginning of the poem when it states, “The air turned crisp, like the fresh breath of a newborn,” this use of a simile and personification shows how the poem starts off at the beginning of a new season being born. Just like a new baby, the air is soft and gentle but young and energetic. 

More specifically, the poem addresses the purpose of identity because it talks about how a person's worth often comes from how much people like and pay attention to them. This relates to the poem we read called “Tomato Pies, 25 Cents”. The poem talks about how all the people coming into and working in the shop have identities beneath them that shape who they are. This connects to my poem because the apple has an identity beneath it, which shapes how it feels about itself. For example, at the beginning of the story, the apple is very confident in itself, and by the end, it is sad, so it becomes mushy. Therefore, people’s identities are related to how people see them.