Something hot and alive rises out of the speaker’s chest—little apples made of fire, bursting from a flaming stem. She doesn’t understand how they quickened and grew inside her. As she picks them, she is amazed: she lays them one by one on a table, and once they are outside her body they seem beautiful, strange, and almost separate from who she is. The mood is quiet but intense, full of wonder rather than fear. The “flame apples” could be feelings such as love or longing, or flashes of creative inspiration. They start inside as heat and energy, then become objects she can look at with fresh eyes. The poem holds a private moment of noticing something powerful that has come from the speaker’s own heart, and not quite recognizing it. There is no answer given, only the speaker standing before them and wondering.
Flame Apples — Summary
Little hot apples of fire. Burst out of the flaming stem Of my heart, I do not understand how you quickened and grew.
And you amaze me While I gather you. I lay you, one by one. Upon a table.
And now you seem beautiful and strange to me. And I stand before you. Wondering.