A cucumber
andrea bennett
2023
left to go from green and fresher than water to bitter and pale. A melon softening where it makes the most contact with the soil. A tomato left to ferment. Lettuce diffusing to vegetal slime. Underneath the outer leaves, at the base of the cabbage: slug frass.
The want grows exponentially, like a kale plant bolting in the first warm days of spring.
If this one isn’t the one, I might not do it again. I might just let the fruits seed freely. I might not hope for what comes next. If this one doesn’t do well, I will go untended. I will let it all go untended.
andrea delivered a reading of this poem during the Decline panel at the 2023 Fraser Valley Writers Festival.
andrea bennett is a National Magazine Award winning writer and a senior editor at The Tyee. They are the author of six books, including their most recent poetry book, the berry takes the shape of the bloom, which was the Second Place Winner for the 11th Annual Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. With David Beers, they co-edited the anthology Points of Interest, which was a top 10 bestselling book in BC in 2024.