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Your mother told you: sometimes when you
don't understand someone it's important
at least to make the effort, & sometimes--
whether it's because they see you care or
whether it's the reward of your own labor--
you'll find them open to you, almost as if
someone has peeled or sliced open
some fruit inconceivably intricate--say
pomegranate --and you find there
fragrance, balance, and a membrane
just necessary to hold in those
seeds, which you take in your mouth,
a few of them at first then
many, and one or two
drop from your mouth, onto your new
white shirt, and stain a stain
not to be scrubbed away.



Gerald Fleming
Contents | Mudlark No. 3
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