Forbidden Salad
Sue Miller

Ausama said a pamphlet passed
by Extremists in Baghdad
condemns those who dare carry
a cucumber, a tomato
in the same shopping bag

Ausama said they assign
sexes to the bounty of Allah,
make it a crime to mix
this fruit, that vegetable
as though their commingling
were not a natural thing

Ausama said they make it fornication
to toss the two together
as did his mother
that night at supper
make sinners of them all

Ausama laughed, after dinner
a little nervous as the camera panned
his educated face,
every facet fighting
his new status:
infidel

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