you crack my chest open like a pomegranate & dissect the memories 

one 

       by 

            one.

how do they taste? 

pressed against your yellowing teeth you tell me that I am like blackberry jam:

bittersweet.

this leaves a cherry pit in my stomach--

one I cannot swallow or digest,

one I hope may grow, or die, depending.

this is the hardest part about the parting:

to know that cultivation kills and the apple ripens.

Fruitless Labor

Fruitless Labor was the winner of UNC Short Story’s 2021 “In-Between” writing contest and can be found in Short Story dispensers across campus.