maraschino cherry

Fiction and Poetry
Written By Josie Low
maraschino cherry

Image courtesy of the author.

the essential problem / she said / over our last ice cream sundae / is that you need everything / to be beautiful / you want / lipstick-stained love letters / without a box of torn-up photographs in the closet / the sweetness of triumph / without the blood beneath your nails / grenadine syrup on ice / without the bite of broken glass / ripe fruit without the cyanide pit / you’re a maraschino cherry girl / she said / it wasn’t a compliment / and I couldn’t tell her / about the hours spent trying / to tie cherry knots with words / and I couldn’t confess / how our love always felt like a stomachache / and there was nothing beautiful about it at all.

Josie Low

Josie Low ‘27 is a poet, storyteller, and local cryptid of the Crum Woods. She is always excited to talk about mycology, Studio Ghibli, or how anything can be a metaphor if you look at it long enough.

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