Today’s prompt is a fairly simple one: to write about a particular fruit – your choice. But I’d like you to describe this fruit as closely as possible. Perhaps your poem could attempt to tell the reader some (or all!) of the following about your chosen fruit: What does it look like, how does it feel, how does it smell, what does it taste like, where did you find it, do you need to thump it to know if it’s ripe, how do you get into it (peeling, a knife, your teeth), do you need to spit out the seeds, should you bake it, can you make jam with it, do you have to fight the birds for it, when is it available, do you need a ladder to pick it, what is your favorite memory of eating it, if you threw it at someone’s head would it splatter them or knock them out, is it expensive . . . As you may have realized from this list, there’s honestly an awful lot you can write about a fruit!

 

Bulbs hanging on a tree, round and red

So hard they could knock a person dead

Pluck it and score it with a knife

Cut it in half

Reveal a hundred rubies red

Embedded on a white cushion bed

Hold the leathery rind over a bowl

Press and watch them rubies roll

Sprinkle them on a salad, juice them or have them plain

But beware the purplish stain

On your robe

For there’s not a thing in the globe

to erase that born of the blood of Adonis*

Symbol of the Church, the seeds of eternal bliss

The sweetness of heaven

Says the Bible and the Qu’ran

Blessed are the grains of red

Which Lord Ganesha** was fed

Consumed in Rosh Hashanah***

A symbol of sweetness to mark the beginning of Shana Tova****

‘The Holy Grail’

Hail

the humble Pomegranate

Prosperity and Fertility shall be your fate

 

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*Adonis – In Greek Mythology, the fruit is said to be born from the blood of Adonis, the God of beauty and Desire

**Ganesha – The Elephant head child God in Hinduism

***Rosh Hashanah- Jewish New Year

****Shana Tova – Hebrew Phrase meaning ‘A Good Year’

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Today’s poetry resource is the Poets House Digital Initiatives page, where you’ll find links to live-streamed poetry readings, online exhibitions of poetry broadsides and trading cards, and a daily, kids-themed poetry and story-reading series.