Mischa Willett

POETRY

“Hold Up,” read by Mischa Willett.

Hold Up

Is this an allergic
thing or a preference
cafeteria guy asks
about my mushroom
rejection, and we have
a long—I mean long
for a cafeteria line—
conversation about how
him too, although he’s
coming around having had
them prepared a particular
way and fresh, fresh
is key, he tells me
whole spooning them
onto my plate anyway
and I don’t have the heart
to point it out so I smile
and say thanks. Then he tells
me he doesn’t like seafood
either—I almost leave;
there’s people behind me,
but stay and tell him
about Dover Sole
in Boscastle Harbor
in Cornwall, how
it changed not my life
but my mind about fish
anyway and he thanks me
and I take my tray of mushrooms
over to the table and say grace
and we both mean it.

Mischa Willett is the author of The Elegy Beta and Phases and editor of Philip James Bailey’s Festus. His poems, essays, translations, and academic articles appear in a wide range of venues. He teaches English at Seattle Pacific University. More information can be found at www.mischawillett.com.

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