Getty Images
Getty Images

BooksJune 2, 2023

The Friday Poem: ‘Carmine’ by Victoria Lewis

Getty Images
Getty Images

A new poem by Wellington poet Victoria Lewis.

Carmine

well – the cherries appeared quietly
there on the kitchen bench

as if to smile and say i love you,
and you dared to forget

those gleaming fruit form a prayer, a devotion
bloody on the inside, taut on the out

eat me, eat me, amen. tie the stem in a
knot with your tongue and stay another night won’t

you please? the same as fuck you is a
love letter if you say it with your chest

a city razed is but a pasture for the horses
to retake–the way that ubiquitous slides

around your teeth is just that, too:
ubiquitous indeed darling, ubiquitous!

say it again! ubiquitous all around you
and sanguine juice between my teeth

 

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed.