If you stay on the road

and take a right down the dirt path

far past the truck with the logs

and the bumpy rocks

you'll see a lone tree 

next to a white fenced gazebo 

and the childhood house i grew up in

at first glance 

it just looks like an invasive green

eating the wood alive

step closer 

and you'll be met with shades of mulberry purple

some darker, some lighter

perfect rounded, growing in clumps of 4s and 5s

cousin of the grape, my mother explained 

we bought our shopping bags

and filled them till the bottom was covered 

we must wait till we get home

to wash them, and put them in the big silver pot

placing it in the fridge to grab by the handful 

with skin, without skin

sweeter ones, sour and bitter

purple outside, lime green inside

spitting out the seeds, only 2 or 3

muscadine season is coming to a close now

the fruit hides in the stems

from the cold winter 

for them to bloom again in spring

same time, next year? i would question 

desperate to taste the grapes cousin once again