A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO POEMS AND REVIEWS

Plum
    by Rhonda Mack

she is a plump girl
a plum girl
in violent waves
a beautiful bruise

quiet boy
quite a boy
for a plumsweet girl

they pose in a purple vignette
soundless sea at storm
sometimes she is
    other times he
pulls her into his mouth
with a fat push
a quick bite
wiping a violet grapestain
    off her dress
or her face
with a slap
        slap kiss
they disappear into the
  quarrellous din that lingers
  between them for days

split
he's a fat lip
wearing plum lips
   licked by fierce tidal waves
that rise dark
like quick flood
and settle like soft ebbing
   realization for days

a plum girl
plump with bruises
    that fade if he waves it away
       if she washes it away

a plumsweet boy
    a mouthful when he wants to be
    when she wants to be
violet when violence bursts
them
apart
like teeth
they tear into each other
as if plums were a soft
sweet treat

  to eat and eat and
  eat