I think you have me mistaken
For something else entirely
It’s easy to do that with me
Happens all the time, really
I just have one of those faces
One of those faces that make you think
That I am harmless and boneless
That you can reel me in and check my weight
And throw me back again and again
And that even as I am gasping for air
I will thank you for your time
That even being considered is a privilege
I think it will be all sorts of awkward
When you finally deign to eat me
I might be a delicacy
But I have 3,000 bones
They will each do their very best
To stick in your craw.

Amrita V. Nair (she/her) is a poet from India who currently lives in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples (Vancouver, Canada). Her poetry has appeared in Anak Sastra, Kitaab, The Nervous Breakdown, and Indian Literature and was included in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems. You can find more on her website: www.amritanair.com.