Rose Glutton

Ossobuco mimics the Mona Lisa 
               In stalking you around the room 

her shank’s red eyes impart 
               the proper notes of guilt & salivation 

The spoon you use to scoop her marrow out
               is nicknamed “the tax collector”

Don’t romance languages possess 
               a knack for sugar-coating carnage? 

Braised in dry white wine
               a simple stock evolves

where mirepoix mingles 
               with bouquet garni

It’s nothing short of alchemy
               smelting apart at invisible seams 

on a pillow of saffron-
               gilded Risotto alla Milanese 

The decadence though 
               firmly in the foreground 

is uniquely of the earth 
               Relentless stirring by the tired

arms of kitchen starlings
               could churn dirt into gravy 

But this is unmistakably flesh
               spared from the burden of grazing

solely for growth 
               toward the same crooked outcome 

With her rigorous paralysis
               deprived of all life’s muscle-

toughening movement 
                all its sweet grass 

budding at the foot
               of every fence post

at least this fatted calf was well 
                prepared for her grizzly slaughter

Fork-saw tender
               delinquently divine   

even the most discerning pallet
               would fail to detect a hint 

of excruciating captivity 
               within all those long-wrought 

layers of flavor 
               Floral on top of rustic on top of 

somehow delicious enough to justify 
               its bone-tinglingly twisted existence

Benji Katz is a poet and musician from Cincinnati, OH. He received his MFA from Bowling Green State University. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Oakland Review, Funicular Magazine, Military Experience & the Arts, and more. Benji cut his teeth cleaning a giant kettle of barbecue sauce as a prep cook and food runner at Montgomery Inn.

FEATURED IN 86 LOGIC 'ZINE ISSUE 3