cw: sexual harassment and assault
I am at the market picking up fruit for the barbecue // I basket two quarts of strawberries, and that is probably too many // if you factor in the pineapple, blueberries, and watermelon // that are layering the bottom of my handcart // But I move on to muskmelon anyway // I scoop a sphere into my hand and squeeze // No give // Not r*pe enough // I choose another and provide the same treatment // My fingers make a dent // Too r*pe //
As I examine a few more cantaloupes // a man meets my eyes // He stands among the apples // His hair is tidy, but his glasses are smudged // Imperfect like the fruit //And that endears him to me // The man smiles // I smile back // His eyes shift to the cantaloupe in my hand //Then to the fruit beneath my shirt // My hands squeeze the melon // It is the size of a small, green skull // Pressing my thumbs inward, I test it for tenderness // This one is // R*pe // And the cantaloupe bursts // |
Lannie Stabile (she/her), a queer Detroiter, is the winner of OutWrite’s 2020 Chapbook Competition in Poetry; the winning chapbook, “Strange Furniture,” is out with Neon Hemlock Press. She is also a back-to-back finalist for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 Glass Chapbook Series and back-to-back semifinalist for the Button Poetry 2018 and 2019 Chapbook Contests. Lannie currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Barren Magazine and is a member of the MMPR Collective. Find her on Twitter @LannieStabile.
header image by Engin Akyurt (Pexels)