Naming

I got a job naming dishes at the local health foods restaurant. 

     The customers sent them all back. People don’t care about prosody; 

          they want to know what they’re eating. I tried stealing historical names, 

but old heroes are too problematic these days. I started listing 

     all the ingredients, but the names got too long for the chalkboard and

          everybody asks for substitutions anyway. Can I get spicy mayo 

instead of regular, they ask. Can I get salad instead of fries? 

     Can I get extra avocado, even when it doesn’t come with avocado. 

          Can I get the dressing on the side, caesar instead of poppyseed? Can I get 

the Toast Mayo Lettuce Tomato Tempeh With Baked Fries with pesto instead of mayo, 

     and extra avocado, and hold the fries? Sometimes I stand at the menu, chalk light 

          as a bone in my fingers. Sometimes I want to cross everything out.

Laura S. Marshall is a poet, educator, and former linguist who also serves on the editorial staff of jubilat. Her work appears in juked, decomP magazinE, Epigraph Magazine, Califragile, Sinister Wisdom, Lavender Review, and Junoesq. She is an MFA candidate at UMass Amherst.