Attack Of The Squash People Poem by Marge Piercy

Attack Of The Squash People

Rating: 3.1


And thus the people every year
in the valley of humid July
did sacrifice themselves
to the long green phallic god
and eat and eat and eat.
They're coming, they're on us,
the long striped gourds, the silky
babies, the hairy adolescents,
the lumpy vast adults
like the trunks of green elephants.
Recite fifty zucchini recipes!

Zucchini tempura; creamed soup;
sauté with olive oil and cumin,
tomatoes, onion; frittata;
casserole of lamb; baked
topped with cheese; marinated;
stuffed; stewed; driven
through the heart like a stake.

Get rid of old friends: they too
have gardens and full trunks.
Look for newcomers: befriend
them in the post office, unload
on them and run. Stop tourists
in the street. Take truckloads
to Boston. Give to your Red Cross.
Beg on the highway: please
take my zucchini, I have a crippled
mother at home with heartburn.

Sneak out before dawn to drop
them in other people's gardens,
in baby buggies at churchdoors.
Shot, smuggling zucchini into
mailboxes, a federal offense.

With a suave reptilian glitter
you bask among your raspy
fronds sudden and huge as
alligators. You give and give
too much, like summer days
limp with heat, thunderstorms
bursting their bags on our heads,
as we salt and freeze and pickle
for the too little to come.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Colleen Courtney 18 May 2014

God, the visualization conjured from this poem is incredibly great! Well written poem!

2 0 Reply
Cindy C 18 June 2008

This is so true and extremely well said! Perfect!

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 08 June 2022

And....PAY THE POSTAGE. bri (ex-postal employee) : )

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 08 June 2022

You CAN sneak veggies into mailboxes (I think) , as long as they are packed well, esp. if they are 'fragile, liquid, perishable, or possibly hazardous' to others or other mail.

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Bri Edwards 08 June 2022

SQUASH: The eventual downfall of modern civilization! ! bri ;)

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Spock The Vegan 17 May 2017

Very funny poem. Thanks for sharing.

1 0 Reply
Susan Williams 01 November 2015

I laughed myself out of my chair. She put her visualization skills to good effect here

30 0 Reply
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Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy

Detroit, Michigan
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