How To Cut A Pomegranate by Zvi A. Sesling

How To Cut A Pomegranate

First, pick a large one with a lot of red on the
outside, I prefer a hard one the seeds seem larger,

Sweeter, tastier — then fill a large bowl with water,
select a sharp knife, quarter the pomegranate under

The water to prevent splattering because as will

Happen, you will slice open a finger or thumb
the blood will squirt out, mingle with the red blood

Of the fruit so it will feel as if the pomegranate is
your blood brother, mingled blood like an old

Western movie when two young boys, one an Indian of
the plain, born to the earth and sky, the other a settler’s

Son born to land and weather, the Indian takes a knife,

Cuts the palm on each right hand, they clasp hands
forever bonded until years later when neither can recognize

The other – one with war paint, the other with facial hair
to hide sunburned skin does the realization of their blood

Brotherhood dawn like a new day and one saves the other
from certain death and yet, however, as close as one may

Feel to the pomegranate, no matter how much of your blood
has mingled with the fruit’s blood, there is no sympathy for

The pomegranate, only a self-indulgent suffering of pain, a
throbbing of the thumb as you scoop a spoonful of the

Extracted seeds like earth in a front end loader, the seeds
crunchy and sweet, it’s then you realize this is no blood

Brother, but rather a tasty dessert and you also forget the name
of the movie, the outcome or who got the girl.

by Zvi A. Sesling

Editor’s Note: This poem is one long sentence. This gives the story a breathless quality — as if the reader is taking a peek inside the narrator’s head. It’s both surreal and intensely personal.