Poet of the Month: “Watermelon” by Marisa Frasca

I hold in my hands a slice of watermelon.
I hold within me entire summers,
orchards, seas & continents,
red juicy jubilance running down my chin.
Under the shade of a fig tree
I carry not the shade but the sun.
I carry the old street vendor by the roadside
Watermelon Watermelon,
pulp for eating, rind to polish your shoes.
Let me translate how some days
we live with a dual purpose
& in two world at once.
Some days loss is nowhere in sight.

Marisa Frasca is the author of Via Incanto: Poems from the Darkroom (2014—finalist for the Bordighera National Poetry Prize) and Wild Fennel: Poems and other Stories (2019, Bordighera Press).  Her poems and translations have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, among them: The Stillwater Review, Italian Americana, TheRed Wheelbarrow, Journal of Italian Translation, The Yale Poetry Series Anthology, Making Mirrors: Writing /Righting for and by Refugees Anthology.  Frasca is the recipient of the Outstanding Riggio Scholar Award, 2010, from The New School where she received a BA, and she holds an MFA in poetry from Drew University.  She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Arba Sicula, a non-profit organization that preserves and disseminates the Sicilian language, literature and folklore.  Born in Vittoria, Italy, Frasca lives with her husband, Peter, in Manhasset, New York.