PLEASE I NEED HELP ON THIS A crate of peaches straight from the farm

has to be maintained,

or eaten in days.

Obvious, but in my family, they went so fast,

I never saw the mess that punishes delay.

I thought everyone bought fruit by the crate,

stored it in the coolest part of the house,

then devoured

it before any could rot.

I’m from the Peach State,

and to those

who ask But where are you from originally,

I’d like to reply to The homeland of the peach,

but I’m too nice, and they might not look it up.

In truth, the reason we bought so much

did have to do with being Chinese — at least

Chinese in that part of America, both strangers

and natives

on a lonely, beautiful street

where food came in stackable containers

and fussy bags, unless you bothered to drive

to the source, where the same money landed

a bushel

of fruit, a twenty-pound sack of