Cockroaches - Ravi Kopra

On a roadside wooden cart
On four wheels,
There on a gas stove
Boils the brown oil.
The vendor pics handful
Of live, half dead, and dead
Cockroaches and throws them
Into the burning oil.

She fries them to golden brown.
Nearby squat and stand her clients,
Holding in their left hands
The fried goodies on banana leaves.

They pick two or three cockroaches at a time,
--deep fried of course—
Dip then into some sweet and sour sauce,
And slide them into their mouths.

Jaws open and close,
Smiles emerge sideways
From the corners of their lips
With crunch, crunch sounds.