The Bride Frightened of Seeing Life Opened

by Sharon Carter

         La novia que se espanta de ver la vida abierta

                                Painting by Frida Kahlo 1943

The bride wears white, peeks over split
watermelons, hands poised on raw flesh.
 

Already black tears stud the cut surface,
though now she believes they are seeds.
 

Overripe, arched, bananas squeeze
between melons. One coconut sheds
 

a tuft of hair, another weighed down
by its belly, squats and stares with mean
 

little eyes. A green katydid crosses
on wiry legs, disguised as a large leaf.
 

The bride considers her safety, when even
a leaf may be a lie. A wedge of papaya
 

offers vulval walls glistening with juice.
Meanwhile the pineapple sits boldly intact,
 

organza ribbons spiking the air. It leans
slightly, a female head nudging the avocado
 

whose shape hints at its inner secret.
Two guavas join as ovaries, watched
 

by a screech owl who reveals only one wise eye.
The bride withdraws, overshadowed by her future.