Persephone’s Seed
Maribel C. Pagán
the seed has slipped
into hallowed soil,
the seed she carries
of hell’s embrace.
perhaps she went and partook
in hell’s eternal feast,
yet perhaps she did not partake,
her chasm peeled open by hell.
through empty, sacred hallways
blooms a growing plantation,
hers yet not hers,
his yet not his.
encaged within her,
budding through cursed soil,
bursts her divine gem—
—hell’s pomegranate.
40
Cauldron Anthology