Lemon Seeds (for Mother’s Day)

I don’t mind lemon seeds
In my food
I pick them out, when I notice,
Or swallow them down, absent-mindedly.

And yes, they’re a bit bitter
If you bite into them
The way I see it, though
It’s part of the lemon experience
You squeeze it in —
Food gets a lovely tang,
Spice doesn’t burn all that much,
Body gets Vitamin C,
Sometimes a bit squirts into your eye —
And every so often, seeds.

And sure, you get lemon juicers
But those are for the nimbu soda sellers
Who need to work at industrial speed.
At home? There’s a tactile satisfaction
In knowing you’ve squeezed out every drop
With the strength of your grip.

Where do you think lemons come from anyway?
No seeds, no lemons.

— — —

When we were kids, we were told:
Pick out the seeds, don’t swallow them down
Or a lemon tree will grow in your stomach.
Didn’t stop me swallowing them down
Surreptitiously
Half-knowing it was nonsense
Half dreaming of that tree.
In my head, a vision
Of a little island, in my tummy,
With its own bonsai orchard
Lemon trees
Orange trees
Watermelons
Pumpkin vines (probably not — the pumpkin seeds were roasted first)
Cucumber vines
Apple trees
I ate a lot of seeds.

— — —

I watch my mother in the kitchen
Squeezing lemon into the dal
She’s using her hands too —
Sure, we have a squeezer
But who’s going to all that hassle for one half lemon?

Here’s the twist:
She squeezes left-handed
Lets the juice fall into her right hand
Letting it drip through her fingers
Filtering out the seeds by hand.

She knows I don’t much mind lemon seeds
And even if you bite into them
It’s only a bit of bitterness;
Still, there is my mother’s hand
And there is a little bit of bitterness warded off.

— — —

I dream, sometimes,
Of a little island in my heart
The earth held together by the roots
of the garden that grows there:
Lemon trees
Orange trees
Watermelons
Cucumbers
Beans, bhindi, even karela,
Miraculously, pumpkins,
Jackfruits
Coconuts
Apples
Mangoes
A pond with fish
Miraculously de-boned.

It’s an island of little bits.
It’s a lifetime of little bits.