A Plum for Edward Dahlberg

There they are. On the table. Bonnard

spent a lot of time watching women get

in and out of bathtubs for just

this. An intimate color

bathing in itself. Even in the A&P, they

dazzle you. A mother-lode for lookers.

But you cannot pick them up and

try to take a bite. That's an old

story. For they are salted

and they have kept some sort of

faith. Some men have things

gnawing at them as well. I ask you to

throw the fruit into the water and

watch it sink. Ask you to

think of the men who have

booked passage on it.