Eggplant she is one sexy dame, that
goddess-deep purple, those hips, ooh!
those hips, curved to shimmy, even on
the long skinny Japanese girls,
erotic dance implied in their stance
on the vine. eggplant want to shimmy
with bell pepper, tango with tomato,
foxtrot with tahini. eggplant she want
to dance nice and slow with all the
flavors your tongue can teach. a little
bitter, a little sweet, salty-savory
tickle your tongue. eggplant she go
soft and smooth. she’s a flirt, old
eggplant, she dance with anybody,
she curry or mash or bake or fry.
she give her love impulsive, un-
exclusively. eggplant she ain’t even
got a name of her own, she whisper
in your ear whatever you want to
hear. eggplant come shimmy by
when summer nights get hot. when
the leaves drop down, she gone.

***

Bobbi Dykema Katsanis’s work has recently appeared in Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Chaffin Journal, and The Litchfield Review. Her chapbook, The Magdalene’s Notebook, was released in September 2006 from Finishing Line Press last fall. She is currently at work on a doctorate in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.