she’s leaving home

By Casey Holman
(or, “why the first day of spring should be mother’s day”)

I grew up with:
pomegranate trees
the fruits with their yellow-red-spotted-black skin and six hundred thirteen seeds.
bare feet, wood floors
storybooks
my mother’s warm soft bedsheets

This is where my heart is from,
came to love the sound of mine and my brother’s laughs
the taste of lemon rind,
fresh, raw rosemary,
tangy
pomegranate
seeds.

When Persephone left Demeter,
these seeds counted the time they were apart.