Lychee fruit

[vaneramos]

dakoopst left at 10 a.m. I have more than a week ahead of me free to refocus, plan my trip with the girls, and avoid spending any money. I've hardly had a day to myself since June 16, so I'm ready for some solitude. I'm also going to miss Stephen. I might write more about that later, if thoughts take shape.

bitterlawngnome's photo of rambutan reminded me of one of the earliest poems I wrote as an adult, dated March 3, 1995.

~~~~~~~~~~

Toad skin

In a crowd at the market
on a table it huddles
grey and innocuous
a gnarled fist
of bumps and warts.
Lychee fruit
gloating like a surprise.
Between the golden seduction of star fruit
and robust mango
it squats small and ugly
trying to look like secret poison.

Home on the plate of my expectation
peal the lizard shell
rough and dry
like paper pimpled by grit underneath.

But lifted reveals veined underside
white gloss brushed with carmine
deep rose petals blushing
delicate sheath for the organ beneath.

White lustrous and tremulous
a pearl of shimmering flesh
waiting and dripping
sweet juice down my finger.
I bite into moonlight.
A tongue smooth and pliant
pushes into my mouth
runs with nectar and wine
held warm in the throbbing embrace
of my swallow.

Unfurling the nut
bright eye in the centre
as wet as a porpoise
leaping the thick white surf.
Brown and glossy
lacquer on chestnut
the secret hidden within—
Shining seed.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the document summary I made this comment: "I wrote this when I got bored while lying sick in bed with tonsillitis and was thinking about food." I had never written anything erotic before.

Comments

[missprune.livejournal.com]

Erotic indeed! Yet delicate too, with an oriental quality.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I like that delicacy, too.