Their luscious flesh is over-rated
Dripping juices leave you sated
But an hour — then stale-dated
Past the prime is garbage fated.
Though my plumpness has caved in
My form encased in wrinkled skin
Still, concentrated flesh can win
At sweetness over tree-branch kin.
Young sisters ripen in the sun
Flaunt roundness but to me men come
To remedy a stopped-up tum
Prune always chosen over plum.
© 2003 – Poets Online. Also published in Calendar, 2004.
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I wrote this poem in response to a 2003 prompt at Poets Online (a great place to find prompts of all kinds, by the way – just click on ‘Archives’). The model poem was a sensuous poem about fruit by Diane Lockward. The challenge was to write one’s own fruity poem. Dehydrated is my attempt at a parody of the usual sexy fruit poem.
Violet Nesdoly 