Bio
Anna Teresa Slater is a teacher from Iloilo, Philippines. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her work is published or forthcoming in Channel Lit Mag, Ghost City Review, The Literary Nest, Song of Eretz Poetry Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Shot Glass Journal, and more, as well as in anthologies by Kasingkasing Press and Hedgehog Poetry Press. The eBook version of her first poetry collection, 'A Singular, Spectacular Chore' (Kasingkasing Press) was released in November 2020, with the print version forthcoming in 2021. Anna lives on a farm with her husband, dog, and cat. Website: annateresapoetry.com
Anna Teresa Slater
I've Seen It Before
There it sits as it always sits: a piece
of ginger root with its cardboard thumbs
like stubby alien sprouts. The heated
loot it carries, packed tight into its belly
as though plotting an ancient
attack; while lettuce, tomato, cucumber
are scattered across the plastic box.
So young, so clumsy, so unaware.
Week after week a new feverish coral
settles in this damp cave, replacing
another wrinkled grump. Yet
this witch's choice —its nose in the chilled
glassy air—remains aloof, each clump
waiting, its stubbornness living
proof of something I forget,
every time I shut the refrigerator door.