theft of the pomegranate
by J.I. Kleinberg
as the full moon slips between the ocean’s knees
Persephone spills garnets
into a lapis bowl
crunches a single red jewel
between her teeth
crimson light flooding her mouth
moistens a silken sable brush
on her reddened tongue
and inscribes
her calculus of betrayal
on crinkled parchment
illustrating
cochineal corrugations
exhorting
cyclamen overtures
confessing
pomegranate lust
unfurling
the ruddy arabesques of Hades’ desire
IMAGE: “Persephone with pomegranate” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1882).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: J.I. Kleinberg is an artist, poet, and freelance writer. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and her poem “Better Homes & Gardens” was recently nominated for a Pushcart prize. Her work on a series of found poems, now numbering over 700, is featured in the current issue of Whatcom Magazine and samples of her found poems can be seen in the Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Truck, Silver Birch Press May Poetry Anthology, and Star 82 Review. She lives in Bellingham, Washington, blogs at chocolateisaverb.wordpress.com and doesn’t own a television.
Silver Birch Press 
What a succulent poem. Beautiful.