Picking Season
‘Picking Season’ by Ella Huang (@ellahuang.75)
i reach for your hand like reaching for cherries off the tree
condescending twin bulbs like crystalline tears
under the pretense of
falling
maybe i’ll wait for picking season
or i’ve simply got a long path to climb
scale the dark, mucous bark until the distance from and heaven above earth below
are equally irretrievable the burdened middle renders me in breathless waves of acrophobia
i heave for relief but i only salivate
a zipper missing teeth will never reach the top
i run my tongue over mine as the hunger shucks my intestines
to stay alive means don’t look down at
the suspense of
falling
for your traps
sunken eyes of sour contempt cage my face
as you tauntingly hang the forbidden fruit i crave overhead
cherry stains can fade but the crimson suggestion never leaves
spit the pit of truth in your face or feel it writhe inside
show and tell
know and don’t
i ask the mirror how hungry are you and the look she flashes back utters starving
a structure of bone festers from its goosey membrane
somewhere south the soil festers like a desperate man wanting escape
he pleads a reprehensible testimony
like “love” deserves censure
especially when offered with an open hand
were you aware of how your tongue tasted
when you flicked the words in my face?
i cradled the sakura flavor inside
until each vein turned vine and bone bore blossoms
and yet such a blind devotion to fruit
brought a famine-inducing harvest
cherries are eaten in moments
its the pit that fester for years
and eat away at everything in sight
before dripping out of sweetened, sorry lips
so my palms fly to defend my mouth when you’re near
i run my tongue over mine to show untouched teeth
but your hand glistens vermillion
product of the unmouthed disturbance against my ribcage that never died
it whispers that picking season is over.
the branch beneath gives its old heart out at last
gravity is a solid smack on the back and the earth knocks the wind out of me
a sob drips down tender cheeks
i heave but only salivate
it echoes, nothing left to consume
never occupied to begin with
i squint for relief but the tears never fall yet somehow
i did
for you.
Ella Huang is a high school student from Massachusetts who enjoys everything art. Whether brewing a cup of tea over late-night poetry, tinkering with design after a hurried breakfast, or spilling her tears into her endless stream of autobiographical comics, her imagination is the wings that bring her beyond the sky. Through her creative hobbies, she hopes to share her love for life's most amusing and melancholic moments with readers like you.
