ISSUE SIX: December, 2020

JARUSALEM ARTICHOKE

by JOHN RICHARD HEATH

Although we’ve never met
you and I have much in common.
Both raised in a wilderness,
you by Puritans in North America,
me by a Methodist in South London,
both carbon-based.
You taste of artichoke, I don’t, but
neither of us is related to the artichoke,
neither of us is starchy.
We’re both sweeter than sucrose and
slightly nutty.
We have no truck with Jerusalem.
The French are fond of you,
I’m fond of the French.

What’s not to like?

JOHN RICHARD HEATH teaches Sisyphean Irony at American University in Washington, DC. He has recently published poetry in Pendemic.