The first poem here is from a CD titled Four Seasons of Poetry I\u00a0recorded in Las Vegas\u00a0in 2012.There are 15 poems on it for each\u00a0season. Some copies are still available. This watermelon\u00a0poem is a\u00a0favorite of mine in the summer poems. A short sweet summer treat.<\/p>\n
When Ripe Watermelon<\/strong><\/p>\n When ripe watermelon bursts its rind The next poem was inspired by Bob Coldeen\u2019s poem \u201cPlop.\u201d Plop is a comic tale about avocado activities that was in the Saipan Tribune Literary Nook on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.<\/p>\n Avocado Advocacy An Aging Alert<\/strong><\/p>\n I once had an avocado with a large pit\u00a0 Balutan Beach\u2014Beer and Barbecue<\/p>\n Weekend clouds cleared a hot sun spoke Joey ‘Pepe Batbon’ Connolly (Special to the Saipan Tribune)<\/strong> The first poem here is from a CD titled Four Seasons of Poetry I\u00a0recorded in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":355846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[26,23672,23673,13843],"class_list":["post-373449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-cnmi","tag-lvnv","tag-nola","tag-pepe-batbon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand juicy red flesh can be seen
\nall the fruits of summer come to mind
\nand watermelon is the queen
\nthe crowning glory of any picnic
\njust what every barbecue needs
\nthump for ripeness to get the right pick
\nhave fun spitting out all the seeds.<\/p>\n
\nit was big but its pit made up most of it
\nit was black outside avocado green within
\nthe same kind and size of others in the bin
\nI stuck four toothpicks in it to watch it grow
\nsuspended it over a cup so it touched water
\nI took it to the classroom so kids could know
\nrecord its changes and be a nature reporter
\ngrow it did leaves came out and didn\u2019t hide
\nwe watched and cut the stalk back a few times
\ntook it from the cup and planted it outside
\nin a sunny spot watered it near some limes
\nthen ready for guacamole mouth open wide
\nour neighbor spoke words that hurt our ears
\nwhen grown from a pit – there is NO FRUIT
\non the plant for the next six to twelve years.<\/p>\n
\nstayed outside too long got dehydrated
\nnow hung over suffering from sun stroke
\nshould have drunk more water and waited
\nsome guzzled beer after beer all the time
\nothers drank Irish whiskey or red wine
\ngot drunk and drove home before nine
\nand the next day had to pay a DUI FINE
\nbula kelaguen yan ribs I balutan my plate
\nkumpaire barbecues next week can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n
\nJoey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"