Something has drilled a tiny hole
right above the base of the bell pepper.
I try to picture what it must’ve been like
to inhabit that green cathedral space as it expanded
& its single cloud grew ponderous with seeds.
Imagine the light & the sliding shadows of leaves
shaped like enormous beetles.
Imagine an orange sunset, in the absence of a horizon,
starting from random spots
that slowly spread across the vegetable sky,
deepening week by week into fire-engine red.
There is no heart like this, so roomy, so full of sugar.
If it is a bell, it’s much too good at absorbing
every kind of blow — or else
its tone is too high-pitched
to be heard by anything larger than the head of pin.
__________
Written for the prompt #2 at Read Write Poem. The other responses (mostly food poems) are here.
Inventive and lovely. The idea that this fruit is a cathedral is fantastic. Nice ending, too.
Wonderfully satisfying poem. “vegetable sky” brought immediately to my mind “vegetable love” — as in Marvell — “My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow.” There’s more than just the verbal chime, there’s a deeper connection, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
MMmmmm. Edible in its loveliness.
Great perspective. Glad to discover this space.
Oh, I quite like this, Dave. Green cathedral space, ponderous with seeds, the orange sunset, no heart quite like this.
Great piece of writing!! Love the “vegetable sky!”
I like this! Worlds in a grain of… salad? ;-)
I always love your point of view, Dave. I’m not sure if this is a weevil or a fly larva or a caterpillar, but if you scrunch yourself down that small and look through their eyes, I wonder what you would see? I wonder what it would be like to be a louse, exploring the world’s last remaining forests?
Thanks, y’all! Sorry I’ve been so taciturn lately (but note the new “Blogging Without Obligation” button at the bottom of my sidebar).
dale – I love Marvell, too.
littlepurplecow – Welcome!
Miguel – I wonder what it would be like to be a louse, exploring the world’s last remaining forests?
There are definitely some “forests” I wouldn’t mind exploring in that manner… but I shan’t elaborate.
Nice. I love the view inside the green cathedral, and the growing sunset.
I started the day reading Dick Jones’ market poem – aha! He’s on the list! I read his with breakfast and yours, appropriately enough, with a dinner of roasted veggies (pepper included), rice and sausage.
Cool! I’m think there might be a publishing niche there, at least for those of us in the habit of reading while eating. I know I would like to read not only more food poetry, but more food philosophy, too. To my knowledge, a good phenomenology of food preparation and consumption has yet to be written.