The Unkempt Man, Johnny Appleseed

An Ode to Johnny Appleseed

"Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need: the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me!"

He's got a satchel of seeds, pants too short for his legs, and bare feet

that hardly touch the ground.

He's a ethereal man, more in tune with the direction of the wind, and his book of psalms,

than the life of a man--toil, sweat and sow.

He's got trees growing from Massachusetts to Ohio,

all planted carefully in valleys. His money is in the ground,

and even though the apples are bitter and tart,

they can still be pressed to make apple cidar wine.

He prefers seeds and berries to the meat of deer or squirrel.

He call animals kindred spirits, and they don't recognize him as man anyway

with his grizzly beard and soft-footed steps.

I introduce Johnny A. to my Chinese students, who were raised under careful hands, told to never dirty a shoe, wore uniforms all through school, ate rice three times daily, were told to recite proverbs, learn about Communism, see we all have equal rights, equal opportunity, we follow the rules, we follow tradition.

To them, Johnny A. is crazy

with his bare feet, and his vegetarianism, and his no wife and no children

and his wandering, apple tree hugging lifestyle.

I thank you, Johnny Appleseed,

for being an individual, for being a dirty footed, long bearded man,

so I can show my students that sometimes we need people like Johnny in our world,

the crazy, idealistic, unkempt ones

to change us, make us think, and let us know that sometimes

the only right thing,

is to be ourselves.