19 poets read from SGVPQ 59

Denise Walsh

THE ONLY WAY

the only way to eat watermelon

is outside, in July, barefooted
 
dangling your legs over the side of the porch
the fruit cut into ripe red  wedges
 
holding it in two hands
eating from the inside out
 
its extravagant sweet flesh
turning to liquid in your mouth
 
all the way down to the white rind
spitting seeds at your brothers
 
through gap-toothed watermelon grins
tasting summer, knowing it will last.