Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad is the daughter of Irooni immigrants, a worshipper of space and hyacinths, and an Oscar the Grouch apologist. Her poetry has appeared in Asian American Writers' Workshop, The Missing Slate, and is forthcoming in Tinderbox Poetry Journal. She is the poetry editor for Noble / Gas Qtrly, and is a Best of the Net, Pushchart Prize, and Best New Poets nominee. She lives in New York where she practices matrimonial law.



Also by Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad: Bad News for Bigots I Thought of an Egg O


Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad

Quick Question for a Palm Weevil

A hand reached for your damp body as you dined on the starchy pith of a palm decaying, you squeezed your own muscles in sequence and fear, thrusting your weight in waves against the fingers that would drop you onto his plate; he first watched the host teach him how to feast on what still breathes, he then told me he held your squirm the color of lemon cream and bit into a struggle, tore your head capsule away from the rest of you, he said he was relieved he could not hear you scream, he said you tasted like butter; so here is my question, palm weevil, writhing larva, legless piece decapitated between teeth: before your rhythmic agony became unbearable, before you were torn to bits and chewed to death, while your cries went unheard or just ignored — did you slide your tongue against his, did you get a taste of him too; I am here listening to this with my head intact in no one’s mouth, envying you



Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
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