On Blacktail Mountain
in Navajo winter,
the desert king surveys
the jubilee bush, its
scaly bark camouflages
the Georgia rattlesnake
(black diamond yellow-belly)
the ancient enemy, patient
under golden honey starlight
and early moonbeam glow.

This poem was written for Day Five on the NaPoWriMo 2016 poem in which we were challenged to peruse heirloom seed catalogues to find interesting varietal names to use as inspiration for a poem. Although it’s hard to believe, every italicized word or phrase here is the name of a variety of watermelon, one variety per line.