Slack ma girdle
Camelot
Billy Down Pippin
Winter Lawrence
There is a crunch
a fragrance
in these names.
Fair maid of Devon
Don’s delight
Glass apple
Golden ball
There is a girl
rubbing an apple
on her skirt,
to make it shine
Black Tom Putt
Cornish Gilliflower
Hangydown
Hoary morning
A boy tossing
A glowing apple
High into a blue
September sky
Sops in wine
Cotehele beauty
Pigs nose
Red ruby, Morgan Sweet
A woman peeling and slicing,
Rolling out pastry
Hands floured,
Cloves and cinnamon to hand,
Singing as she works
Paignton Marigold
Lucombe’s seedling
Pomeroy of Somerset
Farmer’s glory
Quench
The men picking,
crushing, golden juice
trickling, and then
the long wait
in the barrel.
Yarlington mill
Ice apple
Nine square
Hockings green
Old names,
Graced,
Echoing down years,
Sweet and crisp,
Sweeter for being stored.
Names of traditional apples from the South West of England. I’m ever so slightly obsessed with them – and these are only a few. I didn’t really need to add anything else, but I have attempted to explain my obsession. This is for Victoria at dVerse, who is asking for list poetry.
Sarah writes poems 
I so much wondered what it was, but names of apples is a perfect list.
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Such beautiful names.
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“Sweeter for being stored” is a stunning last line, Sarah. The names themselves are gorgeous, but the way that you’ve collected them is one incredible poetical bushel. Delicious. Thank you.
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Ah, thank you. I love those old names 🍏🍎🍐🍏
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My they sound good! Your enthusiasm for them comes through!
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Thank you!
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Party in the cider house! This was just delightful.
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Love the structure – framing people between the apples is brilliant! (My favorite over here is called a Wine Sap – like taking a bite out of champagne!)
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What a wonderful list of apples–names I do not know. Poetic names. I especially like how you have interspersed it with little vignettes.
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We planted an orchard of local varieties about 8 years ago – part of my recovery from chemo. I got a bit fascinated then, and have remained hooked.
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Old names,
Graced,
Echoing down years,
Sweet and crisp,
Sweeter for being stored.
Beautiful!❤️
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Thank you. It’s always nice to hear if something worked 🍏🍎
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Why did this make me hungry for apple pie? A very clever approach to the challenge.
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What delicious names. They needed a poem of their own. Thanks!
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Apples are great. You have made me appreciate them more. In strudel for breakfast, as a snack with lunch, and maybe just a wee hint of cider by the fire.
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Mulled cider 😊🍏
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Yum
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Nice obsession with apples. I only know a few, but I have heard there are many apple varieties.
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Many many many. Apples are incredibly genetically diverse.
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Beautifully done, Sarah. I’ve never thought of all the apple names before. I’m sure there are (or were) many here in the U.S., too.
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I’m sure. Have you read any Michael Pollan? He writes so well about the American food heritage, and knows his apples.😊🍎🍏
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Just a bit, Sarah.
I did a book a few years ago on the history of American cooking, but I’m not really a food scholar.
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I suppose America has a continent’s worth of climates, and a massive range of cultural influences, too. There’s a lot of stuff to study!
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Yes, there is much to study. 🙂
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I just looked you up on Amazon! You write books! I had to click next page! Wow! You’ve sat down and written a whole book, and then done it again! I’m so impressed, I’m really overusing exclamation marks here!
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Hahahaha. Thanks for being impressed, Sarah. That made my day! Yeah, I’m actually supposed to be finishing up two reference books now on rape, but I’m finding it so difficult. Writing poetry is so much more fun. I guess trying to get that published will be the next step. 🙂
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The names are wonderful, Sarah, and speak of a different age. Your clever structure breathes so much life into the poem. When you moved from a list into this stanza –
There is a girl/rubbing an apple/on her skirt,/to make it shine – I was hooked. Love this 🙂
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Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad you like it. I always feel there’s a story to those old names.
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Black Tom Putt and Cotehele beauty-so fine. I imagine there would be some interesting stories behind some of those names…
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Fantastic. Some really incredible names. I love how you wove in the apple-activities to flesh out the lists.
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people sandwiched in between apples really made this interesting
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oh, this is luscious
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