something is there about the inside of a soft shell turtle,
how the knife slides carefully close to the bladder,has to be precise
or the smell ruins the appetite,
where it may turn your stomach more
to see the heart beating after the head has been buried
or the hard shelled eggs, just like the grocery store,
or the eggs looking like caviar, yellow bunches of fertility
strewn around  with intestines and livers,
and  let one with the head still on
get loose, is a race , and I didn't blame
him for taking a chunk of my finger,
or scaring my tough neighbor,
or hiding under the house for days,
until we caught him innocently munching on the
lure of lettuce and worms we planted.