Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Eating Eden




Use your thumbnail to splice
the dimpled skin. Peel away
canary-colored pieces, the soft
white feathered bitterness beneath.

Bite the sour fruit.

Let the juices drip down your chin.
Smack your greedy lips. Spit
the seeds. Eat until it burns
the open cuts of your cuticles.

Feign innocence, and never
admit your forked desire
for blood and lust,
that first bite,

how you do not regret knowing now.



© Ami Mattison

Photo by Tess Kincaid

For Magpie 55


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17 comments:

  1. HelenMarch 1, 2011 at 8:46 AM

    My mouth puckered as I read your beautifully composed poem ...

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  2. ElaineMarch 1, 2011 at 9:47 AM

    "Admit your forked desire for blood and lust..." Truth spoken there!!!

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  3. LouiseMarch 1, 2011 at 10:18 AM

    Loved the 'white feathered bitterness beneath', wonderfully evocative poem.

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  4. hedgewitchMarch 1, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Kudos for doing such an excellent job with this photo on which, as usual, I looked with a pole-axed daze of incomprehension. I love the implied 'knowledge of good and evil' and the whole sensual equivalence thing. You have to be quite thirsty to eat a lemon with such relish.

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  5. Brian MillerMarch 1, 2011 at 1:04 PM

    i like it tart ami...and your words foot the bill...yeah i got those two in spades, but i wont blame on that lady with the apple...i earned my knowledge...lol

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  6. Other MaryMarch 1, 2011 at 1:45 PM

    That's really powerful. Well done!

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  7. Kat MortensenMarch 1, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    I liked this a good deal. It brought to mind Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and also a poem of mine about how to eat cherries.
    I felt the sting in my cuticles. Ouch!

    Kat

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  8. Tess KincaidMarch 1, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    This made my mouth pucker. "Eat until it burns
    the open cuts of your cuticles" is stingingly evocative. Super write.

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  9. Arian TejanoMarch 1, 2011 at 9:31 PM

    It makes me hungry! I love this :)

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  10. Tumblewords:March 1, 2011 at 10:48 PM

    Superb! A little bitter, quite tasty and surely a strong draft of warning.

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  11. kelliMarch 2, 2011 at 11:40 AM

    Hi Ami,
    Kelli from SW here! This poem reminds me of Witches of Eastwick,when the lady starts spitting up cherry seeds. Very well done!
    "Peel away
    canary-colored pieces, the soft
    white feathered bitterness beneath."
    Love these lines,soft against bitter. Excellent.

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  12. UnknownMarch 2, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    One of my favorite responses to this prompt, and I read them all. This is a great piece of writing. Here's mine:
    http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2011/03/02/ideal-afternoon/

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  13. FireblossomMarch 2, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    Don't hog all the lemons, Mattison. ;-)

    This says what none of the ones I have read thus far have said. It's not about the IDEA of lemons. It's about lemons.

    And, you know, stuff.

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  14. Stacy MichelleMarch 2, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    this poem is TIGHT!

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  15. ReflectionsMarch 3, 2011 at 11:26 PM

    Could feel the sting of the tart sour taste, the sting at the cuticles... Nicely written.

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  16. signed...bkmMarch 6, 2011 at 12:17 AM

    that is one bitter bite...and stinging the cuticles ..can feel the burn...tight indeed Ami...bkm

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  17. AnonymousMarch 7, 2011 at 8:43 PM

    outstanding..
    :)

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