Ghost-Meat

[ton321]

You scroll down the online menu
of your favourite Curry House,
Onion Bahji, Vegetable Pakora,
Prawn Parathta.
Suddenly you see
the strange subtitle-
ghost meat,

above the minced chicken kebabs,
Shiish kebabs, a misnomer,
mis-translation, but somehow correct;

the evisceration of flesh,
meat that's been put through the wringer,
the mangle, the mincer.

Would it smell of haunted houses,
an approaching of the liminal,
a dream of after scent, residue
of the forgotten?

Would it be the colour of tripe,
greyish, or white coloured,
and strange as the deep-sea fish
the Japanese tsunami brought up
from the tectonic plates?

Would it sit on our small plates,
an upheaval of the spirit
in digestible form?

I order Chicken Tikka.

[CalebPerry]

I like this poem -- I really do. I have sat in so many Indian and Japanese restaurants wonder what it was that I was ordering that this is a moment right out of my own life -- and I think a lot of other readers will feel the same way. Oh, and it's nice to read a poem from you that isn't about God (no offense -- I know that God is important). (Woops! Tony wrote this poem, not John!)

I love the way that you conflate the cuisines of several countries. (Aren't kababs from the Middle East?)

[jisbell00]

Hi Tony,

I like the idea of this. There's a story that MIT hackers, back in the days when hacker meant something else, had a favorite Chinese restaurant whose menu in ideograms began to fascinate them - they wanted to decipher that code. So they came back with a Chinese-English dictionary and were able to read what it said in Chinese after "Beef with broccoli."

It said "Barbarian cowpork."

Cheers,
John

[ton321]

That's funny John. "Barbarian cowpork" has a certain ring to it. Glad you liked it Caleb.

Tony

[camus]

A fun poem "but somehow correct;" indeed. How the mind wanders to fantastical things! Love the use of 'liminal' a new word to forget.

Once in Thailand I came across such a menu, note the: 'Chicken soup poignant' also a shout out for 'Fried Prok with Garlic Paper'



I order the soup.

[ton321]

That's exactly it. Not lost, but found in translation


Tony