heart salad
a man I know eats heart salad
swears it keeps him young.
he plunges heads and stalks
in icy water
artfully undressing artichokes
unsnapping celery limbs
coddling the cabbage
as its layers fall.
the hearts assembled in a bowl
he pushes sleeves above elbows
parts moustache with right thumb
and forefinger
angling the coarse hairs
just above the pale flesh of upper lip
leans his head back
mouth wide
tongue shivering
eyes closed
and takes a slow deliberate bite
crunching
like broken bones.
a man I know
eats heart salad
lives alone.
-----
Previously published in City Paper.
posted by fuquinay at 7:47 AM
speak!
3 Comments:
Tres cool. This creates visuals that are outstanding. Makes me want to do an oil painting of this man eating heart salad. What kind of dressing does he use?
4/15/2005 8:45 PM
I SO know this guy!! My next door neighbour (Greg Childs, as Hannah insists on calling him, the only person with a first AND last name in her life)has a handlebar mustache. Now, for him, it's all about the chicken wings that he slaves over for hours, once each summer for the neighbourhood "Wing Off"; not a salad, but I see this image so clearly as him.
Slightly macabre, slighty humouruos,oh-so-mockable and SO Greg Childs! LOVE it!!!
4/15/2005 10:14 PM
It's about a guy I knew who liked the hearts of vegetables but also was a womanizer. So the heart is something of a metaphor, too. Oh, NO dressing. No dressing.
4/16/2005 5:29 AM
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