The Squash’s Empathy

Lynsey Giardina

source: Vicky Wicks. Serious Eats.

Scooping out the seeds of memory’s future,
I power over the squash, hesitating around
the bulbous, pulp-like hairs. Touching them
for comfort.

A strike in the vulva. The scarred tissue
pulls on those strands.

Don’t be a chicken
Another scoop
Let me see it
A touch of the rounding, but
I will show you mine 

I cut the squash into cubes,
salt and pepper to taste. The wafting air
takes with it the memory. A silence of trauma
is left in its wake.

Lynsey Giardina is a Senior at Loyola University New Orleans, earning her bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She’s the Editor-in-Chief of the campus’s online magazine: Critical and Creative Arts Publication. She's also read for the 1718 Literary Society and presented at Loyola’s Annual Peace Conference. @Lynsey_Giardina