Leftovers
According to Japanese lore,
if one was to dine upon
the remains of a mermaid
they would live forever.
But I wonder tonight
as I make gnocchi
what properties make
the half-carnivore immortal.
I plop mashed bits of potato
in a giant pot of rolling sea
and ask if you, my love, think
the creature’s soul is still alive
sloshing in hydrochloric acid
then absorbed in the blood
stream like any proper vitamin.
Everlasting when it’s passed on
to neural tissue and living
in constant electricity from
the firing squad of synapses.
You kiss my forehead and say
Wow, you think too much
and shovel in the finished
veronese. You down
the rosemary chicken,
the dumplings, and creamy
ricotta sauce swiped with
a garlic knot, avoiding all
julienned slivers of bell-pepper.
And that’s how I know
we are perfect together:
you push aside my favorite
parts, so I nibble your remains.
Ashton Nicole Allen is currently an undergraduate student in the SFA State University Creative Writing Program. She is minoring in literature and doing thesis work in Poetry. A native to the Nacogdoches/Lufkin community, she lives and works in the area.