pomegranate
with a neck bent / like prayer
I clung to the fruit as though I was
a part of it / a seed needing to be cut
away / I stared at food the way
murderers look / at their victims
the way God looks upon his creations
a single pomegranate
holds hundreds of decisions inside
its skin & eating was always
the wrong one / but it was sacred
sliding pulped flesh past my lips
spitting out seeds / just like it is
holy / to claim the self:
sickness / success /
I am hundreds of little / red decisions
scattered on the kitchen floor
& so what / if they don’t all taste good
I stare in the mirror / take a knife
to these delicate ideals
split them open wider
& wider / avoid the body
grip the fruit tight
it does not taste killer
I do not feel victimized
this is still progress
Alexis Bates is a poet and writer that uses words to become intimate with an audience. You can read her words in Luna Luna Magazine, Five:2:One, Vagabond City Lit, and elsewhere. Her micro-chap, When Cars Touch, is forthcoming from Ghost City Press.
Logan February is a happy-ish Nigerian owl who likes pizza & typewriters. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in (b)OINK, Wildness, Vagabond City, and more. His chapbooks, Painted Blue with Saltwater (Indolent Books) and How to Cook a Ghost (Glass Poetry Press) are forthcoming. Say hello on Instagram & Twitter @loganfebruary.
