Poetry: Love in the Time of Listeria

Love in the Time of Listeria

On a quest for

cantaloupes  free of disease,

she parted the yellow curtain

and saw Mr. D alone

with his thoughts and a parakeet

in a bamboo cage

These fruit sellers, she

thought,

and was instantly attracted

to his mustache and white jacket and his

boxes of Fuji apples and

Gala and

Mandarin oranges in blue netting

and yes, there, there were cantaloupes

but each was split open, oozing old gold

seeds and ochre pulp

and Mr. D’s hands were colored with it, covered,

each finger.

When he saw her,

there between the curtains,

the parakeet made a sound like

choking on fruit

swallowing entire bananas

He was disgusted by the sound

But she said nothing, kneeling

in the mash

among the wet crates

scooping the flesh of warm cantaloupes

into her mouth.

Out on the street, that long

hot afternoon, it was July and then August

but behind the yellow curtain,

there were persimmons and Granny Smith

apples,

dragonfruit,

figs shoulder to shoulder,

all edible things, smooth and spined,

cut open

for them both

to eat.

Cantaloupe by Vinyl_Disco

On an unrelated note, a search for "Listeria" images resulted in a disturbing number of female original characters drawn and named by people who thought Listeria was a pretty girl's name. Overwhelmingly teenagers, it's a sad fact that many of them not only think that they made it up, but that they don't even know what listeria is. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to working on my book. I've reached the part where the planet Bacterium is being threatened by the evil overlord, Paresis, and his sexy henchwoman, Herpes. Never fear! Our hero, Phage, will fend off those scurvy villains once again.

*warning: take mega-dose of vitamin C before reading