TURTLE STEAK – INDONESIAN STYLE

                        First you catch your turtle.

                        Which is an easy task,

                                    for this ponderous reptile is not so knowing

                                    as its wizened old head suggests.

                        Wait till darkness falls in nesting season.

Then the turtle drags its body slowly up the sand.

It digs a pit with its rear flippers and lays its eggs.

These eggs are a delicacy, so gather carefully.

There is no need to kill the turtle at once.

Nail its fore flippers to a pole, so that its body hangs tail down.

With a partner, carry the turtle to a dry pen.

Let it slowly dehydrate over several days.

Flip the turtle onto its back on the kitchen table,

            as if it were a baby in its cradle.

Take a carving knife.

Make your first incision just inside the shell.

You may find it preferable not to catch the eye of the turtle.

Though this creature is strangely passive,

            its eyes stare back unblinking,

            even as you scrape round and hack the ligaments from its shell.

Fortunately, the turtle utters no sound

            while you cut its belly to ribbons.

Scoop out the flesh and skewer.

The still staring eye is stone cold, but not entirely useless.

Use it to adorn the soup.

Bon appetit!

                                                                  Michael Small

July, 1991

pub. Wasteland, vol. 2, no.1, Winter, 1993