Fresh Fruit
By Kiana Heilfron
Illustration by Olivia Lorenzo
I handpick flowers
from the dirt I walk on,
scrubbing nails
to forget you.
And you pick flowers
from over-lit supermarkets,
Clearance! 50% off
don’t even bother to peel the tag.
I make wishes on stars,
and when 11:11 rolls around
you’re the first thing on my mind.
But you don’t believe in all that crap,
luck and hope and the stars.
I think we were fruits,
underripe and rotting.
And I think after eating,
we both felt sick.
So I think love is sickness sometimes,
and I think it’s hard
to pick fruits at just the right time
when green has turned golden
and not yet plagued with decay.
I think it must be more than luck
keeping fruits fresh
at the supermarket
Clearance! 50% off
plastered pesticide potions
– an artificial aid
to a natural thing.
I think it must be more than luck
Keeping fruit fresh
In my garden.
Washing and wishing and waiting,
and I know they say,
“In sickness and in health”,
But now your pit has turned
black with rot,
and there’s no healing
for decaying fruit.
So I think it’s better that I
Bury you
So you can grow anew
And so I can
Scrub nails
to remember you.
