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The Sunday Poem: Sari Krosinsky... blushing in form

It may not have been the ideal relationship, Persephone and Hades, having started with him kidnapping her to his subterranean mancave. What kind of Valentine's Day is this? Sari Krosinsky peels the pomegranate, tries the orange, and wonders who this man really is.

Sari Krosinsky received an M.A. in creative writing from the UNM. Her poems have appeared in the American Poetry Journal, Arsenic Lobster, Pebble Lake Review, Poetica, Verse Daily and others. She edits Fickle Muses, an online journal of mythic poetry and fiction.

blushing in form

I want to make you blush
again, watch my words
plant pomegranates
in your cheeks.

I’ve seen your underworld,
a brick basement in black tapestry,
low lights, a fireplace
that smokes. But I

am no Persephone. I came
uninvited and I won’t wait
for you to offer up your seed.
And who are you, Hades, saying always

half what you mean. A pomegranate,
you say, so I can try to crack
the hard shell hiding the blushing seeds.
It’s only hospitality, you say.

Or call it an orange. You arch your hand,
roll and crush against the cutting block—
the only right way to peel an orange.
But when I try, your skin holds firm.

So I’ll speak pomegranates
until they tickle your skin,
burst red between my tongue
and your cheek.

--Sari Krosinsky

Poetry submissions are welcome. Email theditchrider@gmail.com. The whole Sunday Poem series is available from the front page of the DCF by clicking on The DitchRider in the left-hand sidebar. Poems early in the series are archived under "previous post" at the bottom of The DitchRider blog.

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Comment by Margaret Randall on February 14, 2010 at 10:08am: I love this poem! I'm a sucker for reinterpretations of ancient myths, and this one really hits home. A perfect gift for Valentine's Day. Thank you.

Comment by Ben Moffett on February 14, 2010 at 1:20pm: Wow, Sari. I'll never look at a pomegranate again from the same perspective.. A lovely poem, and I'm intrigued by the apparent deep and wide-ranging blush radiating from the photo, too.

Comment by cathyray on February 14, 2010 at 3:44pm: perfect!

Comment by JeSais on February 14, 2010 at 8:45pm: nice. that is beautiful, Sari....

Comment by Gina M on February 15, 2010 at 10:52am: Beautiful....I appreciate the line enjambments and the preciseness of each word, each line.....particularly the second and third stanza....

Comment by Merimee Moffitt on February 15, 2010 at 9:58pm: smokin' as usual--my---a blushing poem. Sari--sorry I hadn't seen this before tonight's reading. I am reading and re-reading the Cupid and Psyche myth/lore and pondering them with my students re Carol Gilligan's essay. Psyche had to go to the underworld in order to get Venus off her back and let her thing with cupid happen. Intriguing . . .