Snails and Oysters by Finlay Mangan

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Snails and Oysters

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Brined the upset 

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Turned it into 

the perfect 

pickled 

work force 

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Learned how to hold hands

again 

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Smiled with teeth 

this time

--

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I took a shower 

and moisturized 

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After

my ear gunk was 

wet enough to be 

eased 

out of its 

canal 

with a q-tip 

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I smell of flowers 

and the shea butter 

still stuck 

between the webs

of my fingers 

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Human hands aren’t webbed 

anymore 

but I think I have more web 

than most 

more flagina than average 

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Like nets 

between the 

twin hulls 

of a British catamaran

my flaginas 

catching the shea butter 

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I applied the excess across my body

like Tony Curtis’s Antoninus applied oil across the body

of Laurence Olivier’s Marcus Licinius Crassus

in Stanley Kubrik’s 1960 film “Spartacus”

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If only my tastes included both snails and oysters

Hmmmm

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