NAZIFA ISLAM
The Pomegranate
I don’t think of Persephone until the knife
is clean through and red
is seeping onto the board.
The two bleeding halves in front of me
a vision of her clouds my eyes. Persephone
sits stiff in her chair—her mouth stained
her lips a thin hard line—
as an overjoyed Hades bares his sharp teeth.
Pulling tart ruby tears free
of their webbing
I don’t pity poor trapped Persephone.
I wonder instead at the trouble
Hades went to—the terrible trick
he planned carefully
and played well. To be wanted so badly
I can’t help thinking. By anyone.
Nazifa Islam is the author of the poetry collections Searching for a Pulse (Whitepoint Press, 2013) and Forlorn Light: Virginia Woolf Found Poems (Shearsman Books, 2021). Her poems have appeared in Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The Believer, and Beloit Poetry Journal, among other publications. She earned her MFA at Oregon State University. You can find her @nafoopal.