I’ve only eaten figs
at Thanksgiving, dried,
so I have no idea
how delicate the skin,
how unexpected when
I lift a purple jewel
with greedy, careless
fingers and it splits,
exposing the magenta
false-flesh, tiny blooms––
nectar drips through
my fingers before
I inhale the first,
the sweetest bite.
Michelle Ortega’s writing has been published at Tweetspeak Poetry, Tiferet Journal, Exit 13, Snapdragon: A Journal of Healing, Platform Review, Shot Glass Journal, Paterson Literary Review, Rust + Moth, Humana Obscura, Stillwater Review and in various anthologies. Her microchapbook Tissue Memory (Porkbelly Press) was released in February 2022. www.michelleortegawrites.com