Lit eZine Vol 7 | p-2 | POETRY | Clementine

SHORT POEM

CLEMENTINE
by Juleanna Green

holding a heart in hands — *Image by* *Reflective_Impression*

A tawny heart in carefree hands
Thumbs press in and peel the rind away

Rip off the skin until you expose
The messy, soft insides
Covered in strings

The insides are not weak
They are soft
They are a safe place for others to land
They break apart
They are built to share their joy with the person sitting beside them
There is not enough to go around
There is always just enough for those who count

Together, we strip off the cords
Carefully separating the entwined lies
We flick them to the side
They land in the grass, no longer ours
We know who we are
Better than they ever will

I pass you a slice
We share in its riches

[if we were drinking coffee,
I’d share a clementine with you]

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Juleanna Green (she/her) is a poet and playwright from New Jersey. She graduated with a BA in Theatre from James Madison University, where she studied stage management and playwriting. At JMU, she premiered her first full-length play, The House on Linardi Street. When she is not writing, she is reading or knitting (trying to keep her cat, Taz, away from her yarn).