by Stephanie Frazee

 

my friend says never bother
slicing a mango

eat it like a bee,
ass-deep in petals

furry with pollen
baskets bursting

she sways her hips,
fleshy, ragged pit

in a sticky hand
chin glistening with juice

glissade, renegade,
drop it like it’s hot

she dances,
resinous and sweet.

I moved away, it’s been
years since

I have seen her—
when I scrape

a blade through flesh
embracing pit,

I remember my friend
and regrets cling to me

a knife
could never

 

 

 

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Stephanie Frazee’s writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from Evergreen Review, Door Is A Jar, Roi Faineant Press, Bayou Magazine, ONE ART, Juked, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She is an assistant editor at American Short Fiction, an associate editor at Juked, and she is on Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky as @stephieosaurus. Her website is stephaniefrazee.com.