Antonia Clark works for a medical software company in Burlington, Vermont. A former creative writing instructor, she is currently co-administrator of an online poetry forum, The Waters. Her poems have appeared in The Chimaera, The 2River View, The Orange Room Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Rattle, and elsewhere. She loves French food and wine, and plays French café music on a sparkly purple accordion.

Two Poems (March 20, 2009. Issue 15. The DirtyDirty.)

Blue Plate Special

My baby makes my tuna melt.
I serve up fish fry—catfish, smelt,

a hungry-man size side of fries,
finger-licking chicken thighs.

He whips me a frothy vanilla frappe
and I sip it slowly on his lap.

Pancakes, French toast, egg-in-the-nest,
hash browns, pot pie, turkey breast.

His hot pastrami makes me sing.
Then it'sà la modeon everything.

I'm his just dessert, his brownie supreme.
I'm pie-oh-my, his banana cream.

Squeeze-Play

It’s a problem so knotty, it’s Gordian—
why I love men who play the accordion.
They pump and they squeeze.
They bellow and wheeze.
My analyst says that it’s Freudian.