Kitchen
Romance
Leave the dozen roses
to their cellophane sleeve. Bring me
instead a bouquet
of
late summer produce:
the
folded hands of the last
lettuce
leaves; the vintage
tomatoes
blushing purple,
yellow,
oranges at even the hint of sauce.
Let
lemon cukes roll joyous
in
the bushel basket, carousing
with
potatoes the size
of
solstice hail. Turn your head, but watch
from
the corner of your eye
as
the zucchini and yellow squash
neck
like geese. Tuck in tomatillos to await
my
fingers divesting them of their paper-
lantern
jackets. Serve me strawberries
by
the bleeding handful, and I will fill your
mouth
with blackberries from a handkerchief
stained
beyond salvation.
Whisper
every unspeakable
unspoken
that is the Vidalia.
And
let fan the jungle stalks of rainbow
chard,
not cooling this mad air of August,
but
stirring it everywhere about.
Bethany
Brengan’s poetry has
appeared in various publications, including Contemporary Verse 2: The
Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing, The Hollins Critic,
The 2015 Poet’s Market, The Gordon Square Review, and Claw
& Blossom. She is an Indiana Wesleyan University graduate who now
splits her time between the breath-taking Olympic Peninsula and the bowels of
the internet. She is also a contributor to Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder:
Scholars and Creators on 75 Years of Robin, Nightwing, and Batman
(McFarland Publishing). She can be found at brenganedits.com and medium.com/essays-no-one-asked-for.