April 22: Meanwhile the Watermelon Seed
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Martha
Apr 22, 2025, 11:15:04 AMApr 22
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Meanwhile the Watermelon Seed
Idra Novey
Idra Novey
On Tuesday, new prisoners arrive.
In late fall, when leaves clog the gutters and their last colors go out like stars, new prisoners arrive.
As another plane pitches upward and a red finch drops for landing.
As fleets of schoolchildren go forth in pursuit of green candy.
At three a.m., when dogs shift position on the bed and stir their owners who look out and find it’s snowing.
In the hour when I call my sister and she empties the dishwasher, new prisoners arrive.
In the hour when drivers click on their headlights and flowers close and fireflies get trapped in jars.
On the evening when I see no one, read nothing, and somehow the hours are gone.
In the sweltering city, where a friend brings a watermelon and we spit its seeds onto the roof of the museum next door and the world seems repairable and temporarily right, new prisoners line up outside a pair of doors, enter one at a time.
In late fall, when leaves clog the gutters and their last colors go out like stars, new prisoners arrive.
As another plane pitches upward and a red finch drops for landing.
As fleets of schoolchildren go forth in pursuit of green candy.
At three a.m., when dogs shift position on the bed and stir their owners who look out and find it’s snowing.
In the hour when I call my sister and she empties the dishwasher, new prisoners arrive.
In the hour when drivers click on their headlights and flowers close and fireflies get trapped in jars.
On the evening when I see no one, read nothing, and somehow the hours are gone.
In the sweltering city, where a friend brings a watermelon and we spit its seeds onto the roof of the museum next door and the world seems repairable and temporarily right, new prisoners line up outside a pair of doors, enter one at a time.
--
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2023: Dearest,, Jean Valentine
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2021: Cicada, Hosho McCreesh
2020: Future Memories, Mario Meléndez
2019: Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman, Anne Sexton
2018: First Night, D. Nurkse
2017: Einstein’s Happiest Moment, Richard M. Berlin
2016: Yiddishland, Erika Meitner
2015: July, Kazim Ali
2014: This Morning in a Morning Voice, Todd Boss
2013: Paralysis, Peter Boyle
2012: from Mayakovsky, Frank O’Hara
2011: Northern Pike, James Wright
2010: Humpbacks, Mary Oliver
2009: Alone, Jack Gilbert
2008: From Blossoms, Li-Young Lee
2007: For Grace, After A Party, Frank O’Hara
2006: Wild Geese, Mary Oliver
2005: A Brief for the Defense, Jack Gilbert
2023: Dearest,, Jean Valentine
2022: Birth, Louise Erdrich
2021: Cicada, Hosho McCreesh
2020: Future Memories, Mario Meléndez
2019: Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman, Anne Sexton
2018: First Night, D. Nurkse
2017: Einstein’s Happiest Moment, Richard M. Berlin
2016: Yiddishland, Erika Meitner
2015: July, Kazim Ali
2014: This Morning in a Morning Voice, Todd Boss
2013: Paralysis, Peter Boyle
2012: from Mayakovsky, Frank O’Hara
2011: Northern Pike, James Wright
2010: Humpbacks, Mary Oliver
2009: Alone, Jack Gilbert
2008: From Blossoms, Li-Young Lee
2007: For Grace, After A Party, Frank O’Hara
2006: Wild Geese, Mary Oliver
2005: A Brief for the Defense, Jack Gilbert
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