The Whimsical Life of Madame Croque
Natalie Louise Tombasco
after Monica Youn
not much different from mister she carries an egg she is French in her stench
with thin brioche-legs gold strolling smears of Grey Poupon and well-to-do
at night an accordion follows her into a roux “but, I’m more than a sandwich!”
objects mademoiselle still her lovers insist on her dolled up in béchamel
sure, she’s got frills wears tulle filthy as swine not a perfume in the world
to guise the reek of brine dirty little miss with a soul glued together with fromage
her boss sniffs out her stink pays her an unwanted massage “you were asking for it”
his grounds for a grope she spends Sunday in bed buried in bars of soap
“daddy issues are delicious” dead-eyed on the parquet on empty park benches
cracking up like crème brûlée thought tales end lighthearted? a godmother’s toast?
she darkens into a midnight snack all wants had been poached her body was foodporn
poor madame croque swallowed piece by piece when she had been hungry
Natalie Louise Tombasco was selected by Kaveh Akbar for the Best New Poets anthology 2021, Copper Nickel's Editor's Prize, and as a published finalist for Cutbank Books chapbook contest with her manuscript titled Collective Inventions (2021). She is a PhD candidate at Florida State University and serves as the Interviews Editor of the Southeast Review. Her work can be found in Gulf Coast, Black Warrior Review, Plume, Hobart Pulp, Fairy Tale Review, Peach Mag, The Rupture, Puerto del Sol, among others. Find out more at www.natalielouisetombasco.com