Home
Young Writers Project

Search form

  • Login
  • DONATE
  • CREATE
    • RECENT POSTS
    • THE DAILY READ
  • COMMUNITY
    • TINY WRITES
    • BOOK CLUB
    • YWP PODCAST: Line Break
  • CHALLENGES
    • SUMMER OF STORIES: Challenges
    • SUMMER OF STORIES: Contest
    • JOURNALISM CHALLENGES
      • Journalism Project Info
    • THE GREAT POETS CHALLENGE
    • CHALLENGES BANK
    • YWP RESOURCES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • ANTHOLOGY 12
      • Celebrate Anthology 12 Podcast!
    • THE VOICE
    • SPECIAL ISSUES: The ELM 2021-22
      • The ELM 2020-21
      • The ELM 2019-20
    • MEDIA PARTNERS
    • YWP NEWSLETTER
    • ANNUAL REPORT
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT YWP
    • "YWP is ..." Who we are!
    • PERMISSION FORM
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS OF USE
    • CONTACT US
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jul 01
poem challenge: Watermelon
El

I Should Probably Play More Sports

Watermelon juice stains my hands,
the rivulets running like another set of arteries.
I grow a second heart in the summer,
the double-beat for saltwater and humid frog-nights.

I waste the beat on someone else’s music, but it’s mine to waste.
My bones feel too weak for real feathers; I’ll dream them instead.
I’m a pretender pretending,
but I love my life too much to find another.

Double heart means double love.
Maybe I grew the second long ago and never lost it;
even mountain snow can make them skip, despite the winter frost.
I’ve yet to fall for a human, but I can see the plunge before me.

I wish my two hearts and my bones were stronger than my mind,
so my dream feathers could sprout from my living skin.
I wouldn’t need more than one life, then
to hold all the love I have for living.
  • El's blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted: 07.01.21
About the Author: El
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • Vermont Spring
  • Tiny Traveler
  • Dying Magnificence
  • Flower-pressed snowman
  • Lake Sunset
RECENT COMMENTS
  • Some background:
  • ....all in good time :D
  • Thank you! Yeah, backgrounds
  • Thank you :)
  • Thank you! I tried to make it

Other Posts

  • The Salvage | Chapter Eight: Ouveillan
        “Just one left, right?”    “Yeah.”    “Which one? Math?” Read more
    in fiction 2 Comments
  • Amber
    O, Heliades, your tears flow once more down your poplar bark ragged, Read more
    in poem 1 Comment
  • Buck and Willam
    Read more
    in visual/photos/art 0 Comments

Discussion

Comments

  1. Geri
    Jul 01, 2021

    I love the line "the rivulets running like another set of arteries"

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. thegreenone
    Jul 04, 2021

    mmmmm that watermelon stanza

    no way a male poet?! yes way

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • ABOUT
  • DONATE
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
  • JOIN/LOGIN
YWP is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists, ages 13-18. We're based in Burlington, VT, and we welcome young creators from anywhere!
Special thanks to The Kemmerer Family Foundation whose generous support made this new, improved website possible.
Website development and design by Refaktor Inc., Summit Creative Works, and YWP's Vivien Sorce, Lauren McCabe, Katherine Moran, and Susan Reid.

Young Writers Project | 47 Maple St., Suite 216 | Burlington, VT 05401
501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2006
Contact: Susan Reid, Executive Director: [email protected]; (802) 324-9538