before painting lemons

before she
paints,
she studies
lemons
in the early
light of
morning. bold
odd shaped
lemons with
pointed tips,
of cruel
hard yellow,
in a white
bowl.
and her lips
pucker with
the memory
of one cut,
the sting
of him still
fresh, before
the brush moves
in her hand,
the wet blot
of yellow
waiting to be
touched.