Persimmons - Li-Young Lee

To Lee when he is young, persimmons and precision are simply two words he mixes up, but as he ages, persimmons are synonymous with precision.

"How to choose

persimmons. This is precision.

Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted.

Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one

will be fragrant. How to eat:

put the knife away, lay down newspaper.

Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat.

Chew the skin, suck it,

and swallow. Now, eat

the meat of the fruit,

so sweet,

all of it, to the heart."

Realizing that the selection of a persimmon is the essence of precision, he sees that words that are given specific, individual meaning when we are young are sometimes things we associate with one another when we're older. He does this with other words: Fight and flight, wren and yarn. Their meanings then are far more concrete than the meanings we give them now.

The world of the memory is what Lee is examining in "Persimmons". He is showing how things can change as we age and as we remember them. Things we give meaning to in our memories can often change the way we see them in the time we find ourselves in now. Finding this balance of past and present is what keeps those memories alive and so important to us as who we are. We can't let the things that change the way we think disappear from our memories. Persimmons are precision. Memories can be the defining moments that shape what we believe if we let them.