David Huddle: The Watermelon Sutras

I’m eating a lovely, ripe triangle of watermelon.

               –M. L. Sharp

1.

In the act of eating watermelon no one 

ever pulled a trigger, spoke harshly 

to a child, swatted a butterfly out

of the sky, or told a lie for money.

2.

In the early twenty-first century,

when American political life 

had reached a pinnacle of disgrace,

the President ordered lovely, ripe 

.

triangles of watermelon to be served 

to all members of congress. Thus did it

transpire that Senators and Congressmen, 

Democrats and Republicans, began to pass

.

the laws that humanized a nation bent

on killing the planet, starving 

the poor, turning the elderly invisible,

and maiming the souls of its young. 

3.

Dance of the Watermelon asks

that you put your right foot

here, your left foot there,

close your eyes, hum softly,

and levitate approximately 

half a foot above the earth.

.

Arm-flapping is optional,

but whole-body twirling is

discouraged because it is

known to cause an incurable 

inclination to compose and 

recite poetry inappropriately.

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Copyright 2019 David Huddle

David Huddle’s ninth poetry collection, My Surly Heart, will appear from LSU Press later this year.