The Pomegranate and the Big Crowd

Ventura because she was hungry and because

She was curious—but more because she was curious—

Took the dare, a kiss for a pomegranate.

Everyone gathered, her friends and his. Everyone

Watched: the boys, the girls, the pigs and the chickens,

And more. Moving to the front were the children

She and Clemente would one day have,

And the children of those children, too,

Gathered and loud with everyone and everything else,

Loud as the pigs and fast as the chickens

Though she could not see them.

Still, they crowded her, and she could feel

Their anxious breathing.

This boy Clemente whom she would kiss

She would have kissed even without the pomegranate,

Though she could not say it

And was glad of this game. He suited her,

She thought. He had a strong face.

He felt what she felt. She could see him look around

But not at their friends. She could see him

Feel the shiver of the children they would have:

Their son Margarito, his two sisters

Both of whom would become nuns

If just to pray enough to take care of him,

This boy so serious he would seem like a stranger

In their arms, serious enough by himself

To make up for Clemente and Ventura

And for all the laughter

They themselves would feel,

This curious child who, as an old man

Would never trust a doctor for anything.

And his serious wife to come, Refugio,

And her sisters, Matilde and Consuelo as well,

All the people who would follow this kiss,

So many of them, and their children, too,

Everyone stood there, arms up, everyone watching,

So much noise in this moment,

This quick lending of herself

To his cheek, the way Ventura would later kiss

All these impatient children of theirs. The kiss

Seemed so small, but was filled with itself.

This small moment of affection she gave this boy

The quarter-second that it took:

There they all stood, waiting with the crowd

Egging them on, hefting the pomegranate

And pushing them toward each other.

Clemente and Ventura in that quarter-second lived

Their lives, a quarter-second not finished yet.

Copyright Credit: Alberto Ríos, “The Pomegranate and the Big Crowd” from The Theater of Night. Copyright 2006 by Alberto Ríos. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

Source: The Theater of Night (Copper Canyon Press, 2006)