TRAIN TO MEHLVILLE

I have been sponsored by a local society
To sever these melons with this black mallet.

Or pulverize them, more like, and prepare
Their squooshed innards for the pies

Some of the ladies are baking. But the sky
Is filling with green clouds like ink

In a glass of water, and a few dark drops
Have fallen and are beading up along the tops

Of violets here, by an old wooden shed.
I know my wife is home busily on the phone

With her sister in Oklahoma. If it's nearly
Night that means my daughter is just walking out

Of her cello lesson at the old college, out
Onto the darkening quad where her carpool waits.

And I am supposed to crack these canteloupes
With all my strength for an hour? Heaven

And earth could be colliding and I would have
To cherish this humble chore as if it were

A kiss with my new bride. On that day she
waited beautifully on the platform, and I was late.



Aaron Belz