♕ Fruit Poetry ♕ by V.V.

Imagine being the first
to discover an orange
accidentally
piercing a thick, dull rind
inventing a word to describe
the burst
a word to name
the stickiness on your palms
the stray rind in your teeth
that tickles your tongue.

Imagine the peachfuzz of a berry
as a full-grown beard
the blackberry’s stain
in your skin’s grooves
identifying tainting touch
Imagine the corner of your mouth
with guilty pieces of tart, purple skin.

And if mango were the flesh of
some yellow, friendly pest
who holds the sun, the sugar, and love
inside its dermal tissues
and so passes them onward
by this the most intimate absorption