Betsy Mars
In My Dream I Enter the Bistro
& flawless French pours out of my mouth
as I greet the maître d’ who leads us to our seats,
table laden with platters of “delicacies.”
The staff watch proudly as I eye the nature morte
tableau upon the table. I know I must try my best
to eat, to take it all in – this nauseating feast.
I turn the plate before me, examining the fare: a tentacle –
one end open like a tube, suction cups along its grey length,
a fishlike head on the other end with gaping mouth
and staring eyes. I spin the dish, wondering
where I am expected to begin. Finally resigned,
I lift fork and knife, approach the head
which begins to thrash, crying out
through its big open mouth,
Je suis triste! Je suis triste!*
I throw back my chair and run
out the door, ashamed
that I can’t rescue or console,
or even eat what is offered.
There will be many more served.
*I am sad
as I greet the maître d’ who leads us to our seats,
table laden with platters of “delicacies.”
The staff watch proudly as I eye the nature morte
tableau upon the table. I know I must try my best
to eat, to take it all in – this nauseating feast.
I turn the plate before me, examining the fare: a tentacle –
one end open like a tube, suction cups along its grey length,
a fishlike head on the other end with gaping mouth
and staring eyes. I spin the dish, wondering
where I am expected to begin. Finally resigned,
I lift fork and knife, approach the head
which begins to thrash, crying out
through its big open mouth,
Je suis triste! Je suis triste!*
I throw back my chair and run
out the door, ashamed
that I can’t rescue or console,
or even eat what is offered.
There will be many more served.
*I am sad
Biography
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Betsy Mars is a poet, photographer, and occasional publisher. She founded Kingly Street Press and released her first anthology, Unsheathed: 24 Contemporary Poets Take Up the Knife, in October 2019. Her work has recently appeared in Verse Virtual, San Pedro River Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Better Than Starbucks. Her chapbook, Alinea, was published in January 2019 by Picture Show Press. In the Muddle of the Night, with Alan Walowitz, is coming soon from Arroyo Seco Press. In 2020, she was a winner in Alexandria Quarterly’s first line poetry contest series.
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