The Pomegranate Man

In Arabic we say Roman -

الرجل الرمان

l'homme à la grenade

el hombre granada

I met the pomegranate man on my walks through the souks of the medina. I noticed many “pomegranate men”. Each bribing aggressively and persuading me to try their delicacies. Now having some Egyptian heritage in me, knows wiser than to eat or drink anything from the streets, unless you want a stomach ache (although sometimes they do taste so damn good). There was something about this pomegranate man that was different. There was more kindness and softness and so I approached him, conversing in a mixture of Arabic, French and Spanish that somehow seemed very broken but also very whole. He told me about his everyday life.  And a little piece of me softened in listening to him to. That the pomegranates are what his life has become, and that they (thanks to tourists) are what pay for his everyday life. I asked if I could take his picture (as I always try to keep the art of photography and filming as ethical as possible rather than simply shooting and capturing) The pomegranate nodded and proudly posed.