Nectarine | Teen Ink

Nectarine

August 5, 2023
By Anna_Grace GOLD, New Paltz, New York
Anna_Grace GOLD, New Paltz, New York
16 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Meet me in the marketplace where roses ooze, wafting in as if from a dream

A simple past-time so easy to lose, but be wary, nothing is as it seems

Struggling under a curling grip, who knew humans were so weak?

Just one mortal’s ever tried and lived, on with lust for eternity.


Look at the lovely wares I hold, apples of eerie emerald green,

Lemons of grainy, clutching gold, such perfection should be obscene,

Raven’s wing curls, she’s a looker, eyes of liquid aquamarine,

Stomach stuffed full of venom sugar and broken golden teeth


So you see, fair maid, a price must be paid, for such a kind gift comes with a fee,

Don’t you want to never fade, what good is a heart that never beats?

Honey pours down your throat so sickly sweet you can’t even scream

And I’ll wait on my throne in my palace of bones on the edge of purgatory


Sashay among the market stalls but beware, you must heed,

The syrp of the siren’s call, the taste of how violet plums bleed,

Feel the breeze fill your mouth, take in the ruby glow of cherries

Citrons from the south, aren’t you bold, aren’t you keen?


Let the peach skin shred, they’ve never known they could be so weak

Who can blame the want of a gentle bed, In a cell, ears closed off from silent shrieks

Who can blame that a thought slips, a thought to be finally free

With curling arms and blackberry lips, who can blame me?


You are a rose soaked in blood orange desire, something can be as needed as the air you breathe,

And you’re burning in blazing hell-fire, and drowning in a frozen sea

But you have a talent to dazzle, the starry nights and the sunbeams,

So, bite the poisoned apple and taste the nectarine


The author's comments:

This poem is inspired by the myth of the goblin market, where beautiful young women are punished for their desires by tasting delicious fruit and having their souls stolen. I decided to rewrite this from the perspective of a goblin who finds the tables turned on her when she feels desire for the young woman she's supposed to seduce.


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