African Meals

Another one by a local author. I love her tone, both amused and sinister, the anthropomorphisms making it seem both more and less human.

Serengeti

Janet Sekijima

Amidst the glowing expanse of plain
is this grand feast, an impromptu
come-as-you-are affair


to which all are invited
where the guests never go home
and the host is noticeably absent


where the menu is fresh, unpredictable
where the tables can turn
and diner becomes dinner


in two shakes of a tail
where appetizer stalks dessert on tiptoes,
snarling and entree escapes if swift enough


its haunches ripped, bloody
while jaws unhinge to devour
a naive second course


As things wind down around dusk
the reliable staff cloaked
in disheveled black tails


watch patiently from the wings
waiting to clear away
the glistening remains