fried zucchini 

listing foods we hate
you say beef jerky
lemon desserts & jello cups.
i like all three of those 
& i imagine 
a pantry only full of beef jerky
lemon desserts & jello cups--
a diet comprised of only those foods--
a family around a table, plates
piled with only beef jerky
lemon desserts & jello-- they pull
the jerky apart with their fingers.
yes then the grocery stores only
with those items-- three aisles.
i don't imagine this to be mean,
i'm just thinking about how
food is a kind of unspoken identity.
you ask me what foods i hate 
& i can't think of anything 
besides fried zucchini-- just
saying fried zucchini
conjures a folded white paper towel
by the side of skillet
oil hiss, scrap of a spatula--
this afternoon my boyfriend's dad 
was making fried zucchini before dinner 
& everyone was saying how 
wonderful fried zucchini is & how i needed
to try it & how once i ate one
slice i wouldn't be able to stop--
i put the one piece in my mouth,
pressing my teeth down into 
the crisp flesh. i told them
all i loved it & in the bathroom 
pressed a piece of toilet paper
to me mouth-- feeling guilty 
that i'm the kind of person 
with the luxury of not liking
a certain kind of food. 
maybe i deserve a grocery store
full of fried zucchini & 
families of people at the end
of each aisle telling me
that i should love it--
that this food is the most 
delicious of all foods. 
i'm sitting at a table with
you at a candle lit restaurant 
& we're feeding each other
these terrible foods: a forkful
of red jello wiggling as
i place the fork between your lips--
a hot slice of fried zucchini
landing between my teeth--
in this scene we eat & eat
until we don't hate the foods
anyone-- that's so American isn't it?
to fill yourself up 
with the things you hate
in the hopes that 
it will change you--
i'm buying zucchini 
& slicing it thin, 
eating the pieces raw
& green--