by Caitlyn Burry
“How to Eat a Pomegranate’” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2025 Fall Fiction Contest.
Red things stain quickly; remember to handle them with care.
STEP 1: Select Your Fruit
When selecting the perfect pomegranate, it’s best to feel the weight first. Hold the fruit in your palm, and let your fingers trace its curves and imperfections. Feel the tension beneath its skin. Do not depend on looks alone. A bruised pomegranate makes for excellent flavor.
Notice the color. Red, yes, but also purple, and not flat whatsoever. The color seems to pulse, hinting that it carries delicacy beneath its surface. Now, notice the imperfections. The rigid edges and bruises, the different shades of red, the texture. Do not be discouraged. A perfect exterior is rare, and often uninteresting. Find comfort in your decision.
You’ll find that some ripen too fast and rot before you even notice, while others are rotten from the very beginning. Choose one that feels alive in your hand. Trust your decision.
STEP 2: Make the Cut
Take a sharp knife down the center of the fruit, and then again horizontal. This will separate your fruit into four sections. Sit your knife down carefully, out of sight. Slowly take your fingers and pull the sections apart. Slowly enough to recognize the seeds comfortably nestled inside, each glinting red with promise. Promise of flavor. Some seeds are sweet, while some are bitter. You will never find a seed that is “just right”. Settle for the sweeter seed. It will make for a better experience.
Pluck a seed from its quiet resting place, and hold it carefully between the tips of your pointer finger and thumb. You may imagine it pulsing– similar to the pulsing you felt beneath its skin prior. The pulsing makes it seem alive. The juice will trickle down your fingers and onto your wrists. Let it. Do not clean your hands. The stain is proof.
STEP 3: Taste
Bring the seed to your lips and press lightly. If you bite too hard, its vein will burst too soon, and you will be left unfulfilled. Let it break between your teeth. Taste its sweetness first, then take note of the metallic tang that lingers. You will become very fond of that taste.
Notice how easily it stains your fingertips, your lips, your teeth. It stains everything it touches. Do not attempt to wash the stain away. Do not attempt to wipe it clean. The stain is proof. Proof that you have touched it, that you have tasted, and that you have allowed yourself to be changed.
You may want to chew the seed. If you do, remember to cherish each bite. You may also be satisfied with the single bite and the burst of flavor it leaves behind. You may start to feel a pulse lingering in the stain it leaves behind. The pulse is comforting. It may become difficult to recognize the difference between its pulse, and your pulse. Take special note of its beauty and delicacy.
STEP 4: Let the Stain Settle
Do not begin the clean up process. Notice how the blood of the fruit clings to everything it touches. It seems heavier now, like something permanent. The red seems more vivid, yet also dark and sticky. You realize it’s not just a color, but rather the residue of something that was once alive. A pulse beneath your skin seemingly echoes it. The fruit is no longer; it is something new, something that hungers within.
STEP 5: Observe
Hold your hands in front of you. Watch how the stains have spread, seeping into the gentle folds of your skin. The red consuming the once pure rivers of your palms, as if to stake its claim. The taste lingers, and will always be there. Either physically, or in the back of your mind. You will never rid yourself of the taste, the smell, the stains. You expected sweetness in the bite, but was met with an uncontrollable, aching hunger and a sharp, metallic taste. Continue to relish in the glory of the fruit. Allow it to consume your every sense of self. You will begin to feel a pull. Allow yourself to be pulled. You will begin to desire to taste more, to feel more, to be more.
STEP 6: Consideration, Reflection, and Repetition
The pulp and seeds you have consumed may have been merely a taste of what truly can be offered. Notice how your heart seemingly no longer beats as one rhythm, but rather a cocophany of small, miniscule pulses and beats right beneath the surface. Your skin crawls with the movement of the seeds as they internalize themself, making a new home in your vessel. You can feel the pulse of each seed you ate echo within you. Question if it’s you that hungers, or if it’s the fruit you’ve consumed.
STEP 7: Let it Consume You
Consume the remaining seeds of the pomegranate. You cannot control the endless pit of hunger within that begs for more of that sweet, metallic taste. You don’t fight it. You let the hunger consume you as you allow the stain of the pomegranate to linger on your soul, your sense of being. Let the stains remain as proof, warning, and memory. Attempt to listen to your heart beat, and grow overwhelmed with the multitude of sounds beating back at you.
STEP 8: Leave the Mess
Do not scrub your hands til they bleed, it will only cause more red to spill. The stain will not come out. It will not come out of your skin, your clothes, or your soul. Leave the mess behind. Leave all the evidence and proof behind, splattered amongst the floor and yourself. Remember, what you’ve become is worth the mess and effort it took. Your craving is not an inconvenience. Your change is as necessary as the mess it took to explore the delicacy of a pomegranate.
STEP 9: Repeat.
Category: Competition, Featured, Short Story, SNHU Student