Color Collective Poem--Lemon Ice Cream

Lemon ice--Benjamine Moore--2024-70

  Emma Chiu

She stood there

Indifferent

As if I didn’t exist.

As if I was invisible.

I tried to make contact with

Her ever-so-perfect eyes.

She turned away

Leaving me behind

Her arched back.

All I could catch was

A whiff of

Lemon,

Lemon ice cream.

I remember that summer,

The summer our friendship was planted

Like a lemon seed.

In a blink of an eye,

The seed turned into a tree

A beautiful lemon tree.

The roots were not yet stable

The branches were not yet firm.

But the tree kept growing

As if it there was no need for it.

We paid no close attention, for

We all were blinded by the joy

Of the fruits that ripened each term.

We marveled at our happiness,

Yes, we even took the lemons

And made it into different kinds of desserts.

Lemonade, lemon cake, lemon ice cream.

Oh, the lemon ice cream.

The coolness that it provided on

A sweltering day,

Whispered in my ear, saying

That’s what we would do for each other.

The sugar added on top

Giggled and laughed softly,

Assuring me that

It will always stay sweet,

No matter what

We never could have imagined that,

Like lemon ice,

Friendships can fade away

Just as easily.

It can melt on your tongue,

It can melt on your hands,

It can melt with the harsh words

Those others speak with fury.

I still don’t know how

She could have let other people

Ruin the taste,

Ruin the flavor of our lemon ice cream.

Maybe the tree wasn’t firm.

Maybe the tree wasn’t stable.

Maybe it wasn’t as it should be.

Maybe, just maybe…

We could just blame it on the lemons.





For more color collective poems, click here.