SUPPLY CHAIN > POETRY
A bright clementine I bought this morning spills
blossom-scented juice—and a cache of questions.
Who got up at dawn in rising heat
and rode a crowded bus to pick the long rows of trees?
Who ferried tractor loads to the packing plant
where what señors and señoras stood for hours
culling fruit and heaving crates onto giant pallets?
What truckers fought to stay awake
to bring the harvest east to us, the winter-weary?
In the grocery store this morning, the man building
perfect pyramids of clementines was also singing.
He looked my way and, switching to English, asked,
Miss, what can I help you find? He smiled.
I have everything, I might have said—the fruit of many.
Merryn Rutledge ran a consulting business for 25 years before retiring to write full-time. As a consultant and leadership coach, she worked with people at all levels, from the factory floor and nurses in hospitals, to mid-level managers, to CEO’s. As an adjunct professor teaching graduate-level management courses, she learned about students’ work lives in all sectors. It was only during the COVID pandemic that Merryn came to more fully appreciate the people all along myriad supply chains. Merryn holds a doctorate in leadership. She is a widely published poet and book reviewer. A collection, Sweet Juice and Ruby-Bitter Seed, is being released by Kelsay Books in May, 2023. merrynpoetry.org