Melons are deceptive.
Their bruised, scarred skin
divulges nothing.

A watermelon’s green rind
promises summer ripeness—
how easy to imagine deep pink pulp,
smooth texture, sweet juice.

.             Insert the knife:
the melon splits clean open,
revealing no perfect pinkness
only pale and mealy flesh.

Seedless—

.              a disappointment.

-DM Benningfield
Bigger than They Appear

“What a cache of treasures this collection is, what a cache of jewels. […] All are reminders of what the best, briefest poems can do: give back the world to us, as it passes, in the mirror of a few well-chosen words.”

-Cecilia Woloch

DM Benningfield’s work has appeared on Lexington’s Accents Radio program, in Southern Women’s Review, and Aurora. She’s currently writing her first novel and chapbook.