The Perfect Breakfast
Watermelon Seeds
Alice Gao ‘28
This drawing was part of the Street Painting Festival piece I participated in, where my friends drew a famous meme of Patrick Star eating a breakfast plate drawn by me. The process was very long, hot, and tiring, but in the end, it was so worth it. Every stroke in the croissant, and every shadow in the avocado was a challenge, but after 10 hours under the harsh Floridian sun, we pulled through and created a beautiful piece for hungry guests at the festival.
You look as if you’ve swallowed a lemon whole.
The rind will zest itself into your lungs
until you smell of my perfume.
The juice will mix with the acid of your stomach
and when you shove fingers down your throat
you won’t be able to tell what comes out.
You got a seedless watermelon, but the false advertising of life has caused you to swallow those seeds.
they will grow within the marrow of your bones and
the vines will grow up your spine. the weight will become too heavy and the dirt floor will become your
home.
You will force the mold onto your tongue
the skin on your bones will rot upon itself
until you are just the vines of your watermelon.
The dents are sold for less, only quarters and dimes
Fill your thrifted purse.
Scattered with the objects like a grandma.
you will count your nickels to get your hands on
a soft apple. your fingertips will leave marks
in the skin.
the insides are already brown but the nectar will
coat your throat.
You will get your fruits from the ugly store.
old produce that isn’t pretty enough for the shelves.
Your dirty picked at hands will shake as they grab
the 50 cent berries.
Sometimes when you work your shifts at the
Waffle House and people tip you a little extra,
you’ll treat yourself to a small scratched watermelon.
the skin is turning black and blue instead of the pretty
greens. they will reflect your pretty green eyes
And the skin that reeks of the black and blue coloring.
It costs a dollar 25 to get a forgotten ugly rotten
watermelon.
you only see 3 quarters with your series of nickels and dimes.
your shaky veiny bony hands will scrounge around
for anything.
your bitten fingernails with grip onto something small
Now in the busy of silver coins sits
a watermelon seed.