off the vine



salt on watermelon
and her

she is left wondering
if the swallowed seed
is sprouting in her
hollowed-out gut
fertilized by the doubt
the worry of being
inadequate

and when it sprouts
when it blooms
grows ripe and ready
to be plucked, carved
into like a summer
jack-o-lantern

rotted fruit spills
onto the table
over the slicing hands
of the harvester

spoiled

the salt sits unmoved
there isn’t enough
in the shaker
to cover up this mess
this wasted effort

save the seeds
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Submitted by darqjuliet on March 11, 2023

Modified on March 14, 2023

26 sec read
25

Quick analysis:

Scheme XA BXACXBC XXXXAX XXXA XXAXX X
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 475
Words 89
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 2, 7, 6, 4, 5, 1

Discuss the poem off the vine with the community...

2 Comments
  • dougb.19255
    Must be a sort of dying before the birthing. Tumult, foolishness drops the fruit into many weeping pieces. But the seed and some salt remain. Jesus said followers must be salt of the Earth. Preserving, flavouring, helping to hold Precious Waters.
    Nothing man-made about such salt. Comes from broad oceans, or shadowed deep veins…Wayne Blair. 
    LikeReply1 year ago
  • luisestable1
    I have to admit that I did not followed completely what is going on in this poem. Thus, if it the wish of you, author, inform me of the situation here. it seems like something dramatic is taking place, but I do not see it clearly. 
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"off the vine" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/153935/off-the-vine>.

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