Le pomme-grenade

It is quite possible to be obsessed with a fruit. I know this because I am quite taken with pomegranates. Besides their gorgeous red coloring , tangy sweet flavor and entertaining eating procedure, the fruit has a long andbeautiful history.

My first experience with pomegranates occurred on a surprisingly warm summer day in my neighbor's backyard. He had purchased pomegranates for his granddaughter and my sister and I. We carefully peeled and foraged through the yellow-white membrane for the flavorful seeds.

Pomegranates are sprinkled throughout mythology, religion, literature and culture. One immediate story that comes to mind is that Greek myth about Persephone and Hades. Hades abducts Persephone and takes her to the Underworld.


When she leaves Earth, the seasons are in considerable disorder while Demeter (Persephone's mother) searches for her daughter. Zeus eventually has to force Hades to return Persephone to her mother. Unfortunately, while in the Underworld, Persephone ate several pomegranate seeds. As a rule, anyone who partakes of any food or drink of the Underworld must remain there. There is a compromise and Persephone is allowed back to the Earth as long she returns to the Underworld for one season. Thus autumn and winter (or this lovely Seattle drizzle).


But don't blame the pomegranate for the rain. Honestly, I'm surprised she only ate six to seven seeds. I would have eaten the entire pomegranate!

On a side note: in my current research of pomegranates, I've just discovered a band called Pomegranates. I enjoy them. Especially this song. End of side note.


There are many Biblical references to pomegranates (especially in Song of Solomon: "Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate." 4:3). The nightingale in Romeo and Juliet sits in a pomegranate tree: "Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: / It was the nightingale, and not the lark, / That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; / Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: / Believe me, love, it was the nightingale." Act 3, Scene 5

Pomegranates are everywhere. Seriously.

Native to the Middle East, the fruits are used in a wide variety of dishes. Pomegranate juices, sauces... as garnishes, added flavor, spices. NPR has a great little article from 2006 about pomegranates. With recipes and all. There's a pomegranate cake that looks delish:

Coincidentally, the cake uses almonds instead of flour and this coincides perfectly with a poem I wrote a while back called Pomegranate (no surprise there).

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The Pomegranate

The pomegranate stain on your blanched white shirt

(Where I so faithfully reside --
By the ever-present vigor of your heart)

When you squeezed too tightly
Dug your thumb into a seed so bright

(Did you notice the string attached --
I mean the dripping vein

Ceremonial gushing of the dyeing life liquid

Seed of fruit,
Paper of cut,
Slice of heart...

...likened to a bleeding confectionary pastry

(With an almond based crust)

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On another side note: there is a brilliant little UK-based poetry ezine called Pomegranate. Another discovery of my pom research. Their reason for calling it pomegranate? "We like pomegranates. Don't you?" Lovely.

So why am I writing about pomegranates? One, I like them. Who doesn't? And two, while walking around campus there was a trail of leathery red pom skin. Seeing these random pieces of pomegranate completely made my day. I was inspired to write more about pomegranates.

Because I love them.

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Pomegranate Heart

Pomegranate heart juice
squeezed into her crystal glass
this isn't blood.
Pour on plants
water a garden.
Take a sip
share a memory.
Show through her shirt
color her sleeve.
Pomegranate heart blood
detonated that sleeping grenade
this isn't juice.