cherry tart

a poem written in response to ‘Lately, I feel…[color]’ - prompt from poet Joy Sullivan’s workshop: Writing the Body, July 2022

Lately, I feel ruby.

All cherry-flavored Ring Pop,

slowly dissolving under hot-tempered breath

and swirl of tongue, seeking. 

Occluded and refracted —

shards of light chase my edges 

but all I want is to catch the rays 

within my core, crack open to the warmth,

to sparkle as if from within.

But perhaps I need to be strawberry 

for that kind of radiance.