Published in 1983 by New Rivers Press
part of the Minnesota Voices Project

Currently out-of-print, but available from used book sellers.

The Stars Are Apple Clusters

by Marisha Chamberlain

Tiredness branches
behind my eyes the first day
I pick apples. Day’s end, my hands

still reach to pick. I put my hands,
like gloves with holes,
away in my pockets.

Darkness unleashes stars
and I connect them in dark trees:
the stars are apple clusters.

Night falls down on my head like a tarp.
I rip a hole in the night
and reach up to pick the stars.