Avocado
my dad once told me to never mess with an unripe avocado
he said if you cut it open too soon
then it will know you are not interested in its growth
so it will begin to die even if you do not eat it
that in some parallel universe
the avocado is a baby gator waiting to hatch
sometimes I watch him crack the shell open
carve out the big wooden seed
and cut its green body into thin slices
I wonder if in that distant universe
the baby gator watches us in horror
with pity for our version of hunger
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Arthur Kayzakian is a poet and MFA candidate at San Diego State University. He is also a contributing editor at Poetry International. His poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from Northridge Review, Chaparral, Taproot Literary Review, Confrontation, San Diego Poetry Annual, and Rufous City Review.