To be the brightest on the withered vine
unjustness in the pumpkin patch
To be picked and sent away too young
you’re the pumpkin that was snatched
To be painted on the outside to look nice
but on the inside you decay
To be chemically treated and look fine
but being young you should have played
To be painted in a Jack o’lantern grin
in a fake seductive smile
Then be discarded as a an empty shell
your end is on the garbage pile
my sweetest pumpkin – life is hell From Wikimedia Commons
as you are young, they will your body sell
Today at dVerse poetics Brian has us write about things we have issues with, but use pumpkins as it’s autumn. If you think this might be cryptic, I really have issues with trafficking…
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October 5, 2013
Björn Rudbergs writings 
well done combining pumpkin to trafficking. superb!
Thank you 🙂
Not to mention having your insides used as dessert, that’s very creative.
Indeed – though life
nice…you def captured the spirit of this…the snatching away…great word choice and a bit scary….the fake exterior with hollowed out sides…yep…well played sir…
I like this, Bjorn. Well-thought out metaphor. (The issue was clear without you mentioning it.) A fake seductive smile indeed –so true of both a young girl & a jack-o-lantern. I am still sitting here unsuccessfully cogitating on pumpkins, but you made it look easy. Smiles.
Oh, wow, Bjorn… very powerful piece. We both repeated beginning words of stanzas… = )
oh dang björn… tough theme… excellently executed with the pumpkin images…made my stomach hurt and heart bleed…
Those young innocent lives, I can’t imagine the burden ~
You have handled a delicate topic here Bjorn ~ Well done on the prompt ~
Wow ! To sonnet on abused and used youth is Brilliant, it broadcasts a love beyond objectification.
Wow–I am blown away here. I promise never to objectify another pumpkin or person again!
And there’s me, feeling guilty these days each time I grind a snail into the ground – now you have me worrying about vegetables as well 🙂
The fake seductive smile will remain with me this Autumn.
An excellent conceit, you make the pumpkin metaphor bite! Nicely done.
As you know, I have a huge issue with it too. Really well done. I just got my dVerse email…going to contemplate now.
Wow that middle stanza is powerful.. I like the sonnet form..
Very clever Bjorn and well done. 🙂
I think I’d rather be eaten than have that smile carved in me! 😊
So creative, just wonderful.
You work well with difficult material– You know punk can mean a kind of rot–So interesting. k.
this is just so powerful.. i think my new favorite of your poems so far..and that is an issue i am passionate about as well (but picked something else for today – you have addressed it so well)
The pumpkin jives in tandem with progression of youth. Taken away at the youthful stage and prided around,but rotten inside and later discarded. Brilliant shot Bjorn!
Hank
You did a great job with this analogy, powerful and devastating
You’ve made me think, with your clever use of metaphor.
Lovely and thought provoking. My response in haiku:
autumn comes too soon
surgical tucks resemble
sweet pumpkin of youth
A brilliant response. To see the pumpkin as plastic surgery.
Inspired by your poetic genius.;-)
A very wise poem, sir; you found the social significance, and yet, still never left the town of Pumpkinpatch; enjoyed the ride, & the meal, & the commentary; thanks.
This has so many relevant applications Bjorn – very well done!
So sensitive. Pumpkin is good.
A poem that speaks volumes. I, too, have issues with trafficking, but could never have expressed them as wonderfully as you do here, especially from the pumpkin patch. Thank you.
Enlivening, enticing, inviting and warming poetry ! BEAUTIFUL collection of this magnanimous season !
Pumpkins are so inspiring 🙂
One of the biggest problems of today, isn’t it? Trying to appear older when you are young, younger when you are old. All about the seduction of appearance,and not who you are inside. Well penned use of metaphor on a timely subject.
I love your poem you captured the essence of the challenge!
You make me want to try again..mine is too endearing!
Well done
it was inspired, sad and made my heart hurt for all the truth in it.
Your words were stunning but the real criminality of this turns my stomach.
Mine too.. what can be done…?
Metaphor, metaphor. So many things, people, could this apply to. It’s sad, when you think about it. A mournful poem, well done.