TASTING GARLIC IN SPANISH
by Jeff Schiff
Head
the vendor replies
for the sheathed whole
where its dangling beard
once studied mud
cabeza de ajo
Cabeza
so you will begin to suspect
its vegetal wisdom
And in that papery head
teeth
For though she demurs
your lover demands them
or one day will
dientes
teeth teasing her nape
teeth raking a lilting throat
And if the season is truly moist
lengua verde
a green tongue
slithering from the tight betwixt
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In addition to Mixed Diction (Mammoth books, 2009), Jeff Schiff is the author of Anywhere in this Country (Mammoth Press), The Homily of Infinitude (Pennsylvania Review Press), The Rats of Patzcuaro (Poetry Link), Resources for Writing About Literature (HarperCollins), and Burro Heart (Mammoth books). His work has appeared internationally in more than eighty periodicals, including The Alembic, Grand Street, The Ohio Review, Poet & Critic, The Louisville Review, Tendril, Pembroke Magazine, Carolina Review, Chicago Review, Hawaii Review, Southern Humanities Review, River City, Indiana Review, Willow Springs, and The Southwest Review. He has been a member of the English faculty at Columbia College Chicago since 1987.