Sapodilla – the soap apple seed speaks by Anu Mahadev
"I spat out the unsuspecting seed into the ground, unaware that within it lay the cradle of the entire creation."
In the Gita, there is a verse that says that just as a person casts off his worn-out clothes, and puts on new ones, the soul takes on the form of a new material body after it discards the old dying one. It is eternal and indestructible. Just like the black, smooth, dicot ellipsoid seed of the sapota fruit. Like all ignorant fools, I was tempted by the exterior cover of the juicy fruit, and gave in to its sensory delights, discarding the essence of what created it. I spat out the unsuspecting seed into the ground, unaware that within it lay the cradle of the entire creation. As it germinated into a new sapling, a bush, a flowering tree bearing new fruit, I heard the muffled chant of that all-knowing seed, buried inside the flesh — know me, recognize me. Don’t be taken in by false appearances. I am the truth, the real, the source, the light. From me emerges the brilliance of a thousand suns, the power to feed humanity, the energy, the force. Forget the external, the ephemeral. Hold me in your palm, close your fist. You will find what you seek.
An amalgam of a left-brained ex-engineer and a right-brained creative writer would be the best way to describe a lyrical storyteller like Anu Mahadev. Originally from India by way of Bahrain, Anu is a New Jersey-based poet, and a 2016 MFA in Poetry graduate from Drew University. At present, Anu is Poetry Editor for The Wild Word, and was previously Editor-in-Chief for Jaggery Lit, and a Senior Editor for The Woman Inc. Her latest collection of poetry, A Mouthful of Sky was released in April 2022 by Get Fresh Books LLC. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies and is a 2023 alumna of the Kenyon Writers’ Workshop. She can be found on Instagram @amahadev and X (Twitter) @AnuM920.