Because the wealthy have decreed
that those in need
must pay with blood for their privilege
to water
so that we, the "finer" nations
may have cheap roses, tea,
and shiny diamonds,
I have been forced to formulate
a plan involving watermelons.
Firstly, for those of us
who are lucky enough to still find
the ones grown with seeds,
we must buy them all
and host great festivities
of melon munching.
Then, we may hold contests
of much significance and skill,
and like the golden days of yore,
we will spit our slippery seeds
from lips still wet with juices
into bowls and buckets
placed at varying distances.
Then, the gathering games commence,
and each black kernel will be
collected by eager hands
and packed into secret compartments
inside of otherwise innocuous looking
thermoses and camping coolers.
From there, we will choose a small team
of highly classified watermelon agents
who will travel third class
to the farthest reaches of Africa
to the small villages sourced by
choked streams of disease and
toxic contaminations,
at which point,
our smuggled seeds will be planted
all along the muddy banks,
from which they will surely put forth
vines and roots.
Now the purpose of this mission may seem unclear,
but when it is understood
that the watermelon is nature's finest filter
and purifier of the precious element
from which it gained its name,
then a spark of inspired illumination
may ignite and light your frame of mind,
thereby adding yet another glimmer of hope
to our grand vision of a continent
replenished and renewed
through the pale pink power of
the watermelon.
Author notes
!yes!
Comments
1 - 14 of 14
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This is great. I love the fact that you are able to weave in your story of society with the nature metaphor. Another well-told, well-conceived story that has so much more to it than what appears on the surface.
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ok now i need watermelon.....like...alot....
haha seriously though i loved the piece, although the whole...watermelon thing as a whole threw me off at first. Neverthe less i rather enjoyed this piece, and im definitely moving on to another
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seriously, if you can find one with real seeds in it, let me know and i will buy them all!!..i've been boycotting watermelons for years as they're all disturbingly bland and pale with those pithy white things in em..bleh!
as fanciful as it may seem, i still am of the ideal that this plan might actually work.care to join the cause?.
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Hmmmm i say we get really really good at spitting the seeds, and just have contests wherever the plants grow, and just keep spitting towards africa, one contest at a time? ahaha wow. Seriously though if i thought the plants would grow there i would so try it lol
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oh i think they would grow..they grow in fetid swamps..and even in my compost pile in the upper reaches of the rockies!..sure they'd suck up all the water to reach their full dimensions, but the water there is vile anyways, and it rains a lot more than you might think!..o good thought that..the slow progression of watermelons all the way across the continents...i say we start tomorrow!
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bah with tommorow, I'm starting right now! soon i shall cross the border! and actually i was thinking more of the heat factor than the water factor....hmmmI dunno, i suppose with some help...well a fair bit of help it could work....either way....melons across the globe!!!!!
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Viva la Revolucion!..having just watched "Che" the other day, I am in just the mood for some guerilla gardening of a global nature..
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Umm, you just polished off a whole watermelon didn't you! Tell the truth!
I once ate an entire loaf of Pumpernickel and was sure the answer to global warming was through feeding cows pumpernickel bread...............
It's an idea as long as you keep sending seeds because they may grow the first time but I have a feeling that succeeding generations will become increasingly weaker growing in such poor conditions. Kind of like, if I put you in a class of bad poets...at first you'd write your Charliesque poems but after a while in such fetid conditions you'd start writing putrid poetry,
When watermelons only grow in poor economic areas oil will cease to be important and Africa will become suddenly important to America and the world. Until then I'll start spitting out seeds.
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if i could find one that tasted as good as they used to, i would eat the whole damn thing!..but i miss the seeds and therefore refuse to buy them..plus they seem to be getting smaller..
a WHole loaf of pumpernickel..?!..you are a brave soul! a tasty bread indeed, but it does not come without consequences..as you obviously know.
as for the watermelons, i'm still fairly sure they would thrive in most areas..they grow everything else in africa..sugarcane, papayas, passionfruits, tea, coffee, bananas (with seeds in em), and lots of other yummy scrummy things. and in the rainy seasons there's sooo much water that they would definitely have enough to swell to their full dimensions..on a random side note, have you ever tried yuccaflux?..a watermelon with a 26 of vodka in it..steeped for a day or so..deadly and delicious at the same time, though i don't recommend getting on an airplane the day after..
i could never write putrid poetry..like the melon itself, i am a natural filter of puerile thought....pretty sure..never tried otherwise..if i write something truly rank i'll send it your way.
glad you saw this one yem..i had been awaiting your visitation.
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I sometimes forget to check if you posted more than one at the same time but eventually I get around to it most of the time. And of course some days I am just lazy and writing a decent comment is beyond me so I wait until I can. I have a handful of AllPoetry poets that deserve my full attention, you being one of course.
Pass me a seeded watermelon. I'll grow some next year.
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