In Honor of My Favorite Fall Fruit

Pomegranate

Greedy fingers dripping with sweet stickiness

dig and claw under the fleshy rind

hunting for buried gems.

Glowing red juice filled jewels drop into my bowl,

with each finger flex another sweet ruby

is piled onto the hill of red

in the white ceramic bowl next to the empty shell.

Scarlet fingers pop a handful of beads into my mouth--

taste buds sing as each sweet ruby explodes.

by Kendra Maurer

Copyright 1999