A Single Slice Reveals Them

By: Naomi Shihab Nye

An apple on the table
hides its seeds
so neatly
under seamless skin.

But we talk and talk and talk
to let somebody
in.

The first stanza is saying that Ishmael is alive on the outside and looks like he is okay, but on the inside where no one but himself can see, he is dying mentally. And he can keep it hidden like the apple hides its seeds. I think that the second stanza is saying that in order to fix Ishmael's problems, he needs to keep hearing good things that will drive him into being normal again.