RIPE GRAPE
ALM No.86, February 2026
POETRY
Ripe Grape
_
when sweetness was simple
fruit split easily
their light filled my mouth.
the world was
clear juice, spring air
round and right as a grape.
_______
in july, the air bruised
compost steamed
rags soured.
flesh cooked on the pavement
and in the dirt
the word changed in my mouth.
_______________
Ripe
is a lesson pressed against my teeth
how language itself
begins to sweeten
and rot.
_____
how the death of a wasp
swells the fig
drops to the earth
and nourishes the flies.
how cheese may blossom
with a slow lightning
its form figured
through infection.
how a wine
may be so lovely
because the grapes so
bitter.
_______________________
so when the fish’s eye splits
I taste it anyway
this fruit
this world
tender, leaking
still sweet.
Flora & Fauna (3026)
HEAVY MACHINES ON OUR BACKS FINALLY WE SEE THE SUN
OUR BONES GREEN WE SMILE OF JADE
OF LIMBS SLICK WITH OILY WATER
HUNDRED BY HUNDRED WE MARCH ON THE SHORE
LEAVE OUR FLIPPERS AND HELMETS SCATTERED
AMONGST THE SANDS THE TREES THE HILLS
WE DANCE ON GRASS ON PETALS ON ANTS
AND GORGE RAW ON THE FEAST OF MEAT OF MAMMALIA OF MURDER
WITH BITS OF RED BETWEEN OUR GRINS AND
BLACK ON OUR FEET
O’ THANK YOU NATURE AND TIME, MOTHER AND FATHER! WE CRY
THESE TEARS GLOW ON WHAT GROUNDS US
WARM AND GREEN BLOODED WE ARE GLAD
TO BE BACK ON OUR LAND.
Chris Kim is a sophomore at The Governor's Academy. A classics scholar, his poems argue with old Romans and occasionally win. He began an Aequora site with the Paideia Institute, researches Roman satire and elite narrative control, and is preparing for Ephebeia, a classics journal. Between translations, he watches Miyazaki after reading the source novels—ritual—and makes killer bentos: bear-shaped purple rice onigiri, beef don with a curry-ketchup smile. Seeing his eater's reaction keeps him full!