The Watermelon Universe*
I love these Gypsy schoolchildren,
hands uniformly clasped,
lost in camouflaged pieces of planet scatter.
Their shadows are as long as countries.
Children curious about the whole world
stand on the maps,
try to learn the names of places
where they belong.
They read about winds,
the north and the south. They don’t know
where the hemispheres have gone;
the moon is missing.
Where is home?
Nothing is certain, but they earnestly
hope to learn.
Why do we want watermelons?
Why do we need watermelons? Why
are there never enough watermelons?
C Albert‘s collages, drawings, photos, assemblages, comics and poetry have been widely published in cool places such as Ink Sweat & Tears, Gargoyle, Grey Sparrow, Indianapolis Review, also upcoming in pacificREVIEW: The Mirror Maze and Propertius Press anthology: Canticles and Spheres. An award winning artist, her works are featured at Four Corners Art in Seattle.
*The Watermelon Universe was originally published by Ink Sweat & Tears on 10th February 2011 when C Albert was artist/poet-in-residence.