The tender, thin-peeled bright yellow lemons grown on California farms are expected to be full of sweet and sour juice. Meanwhile, the pimple-faced me hanging out in the sea-breezed sunshine is not sophisticated. Sometimes, swallowtail larvae could not reach the fruit and suffocated in the middle of my astringent skin.

Your beloved wild lemon tree.

You had plucked me from a young seedling, kissed with your lips and gently bit me. But your white front teeth, which had been braces, were broken by my thick and hard peel. And the acid that splashed from me into your eyes made you cry.

I came to my senses for a moment, rolled off your fingers and went back to the dry soil.

The wild lemon tree will bear more fruit for you. After another rainy season.

…

hiromi suzuki is a poet, fiction writer and artist living in Tokyo, Japan. She is the author of Ms. cried – 77 poems by hiromi suzuki (Kisaragi Publishing, 2013), logbook (Hesterglock Press, 2018), INVISIBLE SCENERY (Low Frequency Press, 2018), Andante (AngelHousePress, 2019), Found Words from Olivetti (Simulacrum Press, 2020), Ephemera (Colossive Press, 2021). Double solo exhibition with Francesco Thérès visual HAIKU | OLIVETTI poems was held in Rome, 9 ～30 September 2021.

Note: Lemon Elegy is a part of the first poetry collection Ms. cried – 77 poems by hiromi suzuki (kisaragi publishing, 2013 ISBN978-4-901850-42-1). The poem written in Japanese has been translated by hiromi suzuki, 2022.