Poem: "The Peach Tree State"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the October 18, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from technoshaman, ellenmillion, and rhodielady_47. It has been sponsored by technoshaman.


"The Peach Tree State"


Georgia's official nickname
is the Peach State, and
its state fruit is the peach.

It has Peachtree City,
Peachtree Center, and
Peachtree Street.

Among the most famous
trees is the Belle of Georgia,
whose fruit is often called
simply "Georgia peaches."

There's nothing like sitting down
on a hot summer day with
a scoop of peach ice cream
or a bowl of peaches and cream,

and whenever I do,
I always seem to find
I've got Georgia on my mind.

* * *

Notes:

Georgia has long been associated with peaches. It's official nickname is the Peach State, and the peach is its state food. Many places are named accordingly such as Peachtree City, Peachtree Center, and Peachtree Street. Belle of Georgia is among the most popular cultivars.

"Georgia on My Mind" is a famous song by by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, particularly the performance by Georgia native Ray Charles.

Comments

[curiosity]

Fun fact. There are 71 one streets named 'Peachtree' in or around Atlanta. Ask me how often I get lost.

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's really something. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Wow!

[technoshaman]

And... travelling north from Atlanta's Garnett Station, the same continuous piece of pavement is variously styled Peachtree St. SW, Peachtree St. NE (crossing Five Points), Peachtree Road (north of I-85), and then, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard (crossing I-285, where it becomes a freeway until crossing Jimmy Carter Bvld, then reverts to a four-lane boulevard), which it remains until it reaches S Waterworks Rd in the little town of Buford, GA, some forty-five miles away from Five Points.

'sfunny, I never really got lost in Atlanta. Sometimes I would get off-track, but if I knew I was inside Perimeter, I knew I'd hit it eventually, thus finding myself again.. but I usually managed to hit one of the major arterials before then... *outside* perimeter could get fun, because Chamblee-Dunwoody road goes around a corner... *twice*. If you go straight at either of those points, *you won't be on that road anymore.* Oh, and calling 911 around there has got to be a nightmare... Fulton County got tired of running sheriff's deputies from Palmetto to past Alpharetta, so they passed a law that there will be no unincorporated Fulton County, and every one of those little suburban hamlets thus created has its own cop shop.

Not that calling 911 for other than fire/rescue is such a great idea anymore, but ... yeah.

[meridian_rose]

I have learnt something today :) Not one of the state nicknames I knew. A very summery feel to this poem with all the talk of peaches and ice cream :)

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you enjoyed this, and learned something from it.

[technoshaman]

'sfunny, though. Georgia's known for peaches, but actually produces more *pecans*. South Carolina is known as the Palmetto State, but upstate SC produces a lot more peaches. This is celebrated with an enormous peach-shaped water tower called the Peachoid (or just "The Peach") in Gaffney, SC, just off I-85. It holds one million gallons of water. (At one point, Cherokee County, of which Gaffney is the seat, produced more peaches than *all* of Georgia.)

Legends are funny things...