ADVENT DAY TWELVE: AMY PICKWORTH

Ripe

Barely past its prime, the fruit

is refused by the girl. Appreciate

the almost-perfect strawberry in winter, I chide.

Outside the temperatures are deficits.

Cold is leaking in around the windows

and the girl is so bored in her lush skin.

At the sink I cut out all the softest spots, bloodying

my hands with juice so she doesn’t need

to put something imperfect into her body.

Here I say, handing her a clean bowl

heaped with berries, each split open

to reveal its small pink cave of a heart.

Amy Pickworth’s book Bigfoot for Women was released by Orange Monkey Publishing in 2014. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. You can find her at amypickworth.com.