jeff schiff

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.