who
would have
guessed that past
your unfriendly
exterior was
a sweet reward for those
who adventured? who was the
first to make the discovery?
bright and beautiful, your scaly hide
suits the fierce creature for whom you were named,
even the plant which yields you is prickly,
unwelcoming, dangling and serpent-like,
was it a wanderer sick from thirst
who was the first to conquer you?
who knew cactus could produce
a sweet fruit, gorgeous in
fuschia pink color,
with juices that
dye your skin,
purply
red?
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This poem was written for the dVerse Poetics challenge. We were challenged to describe a fruit’s exterior and interior in a form of our choosing. I chose a double etheree. Dragonfruit (pitaya) seems to be getting trendy in the U.S., but I have only tried it recently. I bought some frozen cubes of the fruit to use in a fruit punch at Easter, and it did dye my hands with its juice. It seems it can also be white on the interior as well.