The Paddock Review

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A Poem by Linda B. Myers

WATERMELON GIRL

…..

Broken husband inside at the top of the stairs

awaiting bedpan, fresh bandage, small talk.

 

Alone in the car at the bottom of the stairs

I’m too hot, too tired till crows scold me to move.

 

I open the hatch. The watermelon rolls out,

cracks, sweet red meat drains down the drive.

 

Sitting on a cement step, I weep.

The storm passes. Eyes bleary

 

I stare at green rind bowls still holding

chunks of deepest red flesh torn from the middle.

 

I eat it with my hands, sticky juice drizzling down my chin,

consuming the heart like a hunter.

 

Wiping fingers on my cotton shirt I bend,

lift the grocery bags and climb the stairs.

 

….

This poem is from the chapbook LOAD-BEARING WALLS by Linda B. Myers (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/load-bearing-walls-by-linda-b-myers/


Linda B. Myers traded snow boots for rain boots and moved from Chicago to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula where she is now part of the old growth. She has Indy published ten novels, writes a monthly op/ed piece for the Sequim Gazette, and is a co-founder of Olympic Peninsula Authors, a group devoted to promoting the many fine authors out here in the wild. Load-Bearing Walls is her first poetry collection.