~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Gary Grossman

Popping Shrimp Heads

Five pounds of white shrimp,

fresh off the Anna Jane,

Tybee Island, Georgia.

Chitin-wrapped gifts from the

cordgrass haven where Bull

and Savannah Rivers embrace

to form the Atlantic Ocean.

The shrimp are a satiny

translucence. A string of soft

marine opals, eyes now glassy

black beads peering up from

our stainless steel sink. Each

hand holds a shrimp, as the green

olive scents of Spartina and

pregnant mud waft upwards.

Grasping bodies gently, I

turn them, pleopod legs

to the outside, avoiding

the horns, polysaccharide

spears that exact revenge for

lost crustacean lives, but  

The sticks are inevitable

because this is barehanded

work, gloves unable to palpate

the springy crevice between

thorax and abdomen where

a thumb must enter and with

a guillotine flick, separate

the transparent rectangle of

head, guts and antennal whips

from sensual tail-meat. The

head tumbles downward joining

the decapitations of other

crustacean nobles, laying on

the silver sink floor. Scents of

bay, mustard seed, coriander,

and cayenne rise from Gramma’s

dented black stockpot. as the

water jitterbugs in anticipation.

Gary Grossman is Professor of Animal Ecology at the University of Georgia. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in 27 reviews most recently (2021/2): Verse-Virtual, Poetry Life and Times, Black Poppy Review, Trouvaille Review, Your Daily Poem, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Poetry Superhighway, Muddy River Poetry Review, The Knot, and Last Stanza Poetry Review. Hobbies include running, fishing, gardening and cooking. Bio and writing at garygrossman.net and Gary's blog respectively. Email: gdgrossman@gmail.com