I am the Wrong Fruit by Susan Barry-Schulz

I am the Wrong Fruit

I am the wrong fruit. The shape of me un-

becoming. My globular body a proper

liability. Solid harbinger

of metabolic danger. Round risk. My ample

sphere empirically feared. Serpent-cursed, spell-

cast, dragon-guarded, poison-steeped. Spoiler

of barrels everywhere. Golden. Crisp. Delicious.

Oh, O magazine, show me the best jeans

to camouflage a rotund frame, flatter

the well-upholstered midriff. If only

I’d been born a Bartlett pear. Or better yet,

a Bosc. Tender-skinned & slender-waisted,

I’d dangle, sun-warmed & bruised. My sweet

juicy flesh, always just out of reach.

Susan Barry-Schulz is a poet and collage artist who grew up just outside of Buffalo, NY. Her work has appeared in SWWIM, Heron Tree, Shooter Literary Magazine, Bending Genres, B O D Y, Gone Lawn, Leon Literary Review, West Trestle Review, The Westchester Review and in many other print and online journals and anthologies.