self portrait as a four-course meal

                                                                 i - appetizer

a platter of chopped celery // baby carrot sticks // crushed taco shells // dipped in a bowl of creamed mush made from // yogurt cheese & // canned oysters // all intermingling atop // quivering taste buds // drowned in nostalgia.

                                                                ii – salad

a bowl of white rice // & dandelion greens freshly weeded from the back garden // roma tomatoes // & baby corn kernels // drizzled with radioactive ranch // the kind made from crushed spinach // (the same kind your middle-school crush made fun of).

                                                                iii – main course

two potato & zucchini tagines // slow-cooked in cast-iron vessels & several cups of olive oil // for nearly three hours // strewn with blanched almonds // & medjool dates // & sweet peas galore // (just don’t touch the lamb // it’ll make even the angstiest of teens irrevocably sad).

                                                                iv – dessert

plates of coconut balls // honeyed sesame chebakia // & gazelle cookies // take your pick // or maybe just go for the watermelon // & pesticide-dusted cantaloupe // dolloped with homemade peanut-butter ice cream // (whichever you choose is sure to be a dream).