"watermelon seeds'

Vignette of Lacy

'watermelon seeds’

She eats watermelons, eats the seeds, from luscious dark red heart to pale pink rind. She finds the sweetness overcomes the bitterness of life, this rife of being homeless, living on the edge, beyond the ridicule of family or friends. What end will come of it?

Her boyfriend left a present for her, before he disappeared. No fear, his seed now grows within. It takes the nourishment of watermelon, binds it to new flesh. Refreshed, she contemplates the months to come.

Each day presents new tasks to tackle, yet hackles rise at each intrusion. Better to be left alone, and yet ... none ever lives or loves alone. Atonement comes to she who asks for help.

Watermelon trickles on her chin. Within she feels the tickle of new life, new strife to overcome, new friends to be won. She swallows the fruity seeds.

Her boyfriend will be back some day. Their son will hear his voice and know him. Within her heart the seeds of futures flourish. Nourished by the watermelon, her thirst is sated. Belatedly, she thinks of all the could-have-beens.

What would-have-been her fate if choices had led down other paths: dry as cornfields in the summer heat, cold as winter's wheat? Not wet as watermelon, inhaled from dark red heart to pale pink rind; not full of love's pure seed. She finds contentment in the growing seed.


Kåre Enga

10 mars 2005
Catalogue number: [161.1147]

For Lacy and Loren in Lawrence. A fictionalized version of a true story. Yes, Laci is pregnant and, yes, she eats the seeds.

NOTE TO RATERS/REVIEWERS:

This is poetry. It is a vignette. A prose poem may have a bit of a narrative, but uses poetic devices: rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, image, metaphor, etc. It is not a short story. It is not flash fiction. It needs to be rated as poetry first. If you feel it is prose, please comment. The line between the two is murky . Also comment whether you think it is best in poetic form or in letter, prose form. I would prefer prose form. Which do you?