Food and Beverage: “a delicata squash, growing” by Kevin Madrigal Galindo

a delicata squash, growing

a delicate squash is one that requires patience,
a seed can take six weeks to germinate. 
it drops coat, transforms into baby cotyledons
that are sacrificed to erect first leaves. 

four weeks later, green veins run along 
yelloworange petals, a landscape bursts
& honey bees wear pollen like glitter— 
not knowing the stamen sucking metaphors they carry. 

by accident or by design, a pollinated flower
becomes insinuated fruit. eight more weeks
and its cream-colored girth becomes desirable 
to the proud grower who unsheathes 
sharp shears to cut the umbilical vine.

a baby is born, then stored in cool dark
trucks, delivered by macho drivers
seeking familiarity, men from a simple seed.
they gather around the table and indulge
at the oblong fruits of nature’s intimate labor. 

About Kevin Madrigal Galindo

Kevin Madrigal Galindo is a first generation hijo de su chingada madre from South San Francisco by way of Zapopan, Jalisco. You can find Kevin’s work in The Boiler, Bozalta, KQED, and also inscribed on bridge overpasses and tree stumps around the SF Bay Area. His first chapbook, Hell/a Mexican is out now. He is currently reimagining the world with abuelita wisdom, and trying to channel rage into change.