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Think of California, the backlot
of America. This period of the year
the outside scene and
the grocery store says
the pomegranate is the beating
heart of the fruit alley. Stickers on
the angled aspects and somewhat smooth
means ripe as ruby
drips inside where the juice pools.
Colour is everything sweet.
So when you take
the knife to its shine, wait for the
stain.
How far it must have travelled
to be all over your hands now,
at home where your mother's Christmas Cactus blooms pink
right on schedule.
It's enough to make you not
think of what is missing.
How gentle that part releases
from the pulp. Then the seeds
inside ripe as the earth on your tongue and how they turn,
like a twinkle lights about to
flash out.