'elt 
Budd 

Little Peach 
by Samantha Budd 

2016 IUSB English Department Writing Award, Third Place, Poetry 

Midway between the 
cardboard box and mansion 
there was a rotting peach 
You leaned in quick 
to pick it up, 
bending your arms 
like a crescent moon. 
I watched the sunrise 
from your eyes that morning, 
knowing I might never 
see it again-

everything feels okay. 
I touch your intricate lips 
with my velvet fingertip. 
Shoving my frail body 
into your kitchen drawer 

compressing myself 
against a rusted spoon, 
decaying 

orange. 

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