When they ask you what you’re thinking of, say love.
–The Avett Brothers
It is messy,
this readying
cherries,
dark skin
resists
to give
up the pit
and the flesh
it drips
and the juice
it stains
and isn’t
this a bit
like love,
my ripe heart
beating
as if
to escape
my own
dark skin.
It is messy
this preparation.
Surely you’re not implying your heart is the pits! Nor something as Hallmarky as, “Love is a bowl of ripe, red cherries.”
But, ahhh… the thick, dark, unyielding flesh around our hearts. Ay caramba, what sorta love is this…? Messy, quite indeed.
Yes, that image of the heart and the cherry pulp is powerful. And I like the way it reads on down the column, sorta drips!
Two things:
One, that word “to” in the sixth line. I wonder if just tossing it like a pit and going with “…resists giving up the pit…” would flow better.
Two, I’m not sure you’re ending on the right note, the “this preparation” seems to restate how it starts. Wouldn’t ending on “dark skin” resonate better, even just “it’s messy” I think would be better.