Who else can I ask to split 

the apple into two neat halves?

You separate bone 

from chicken with splendor. You slice 

through yam tubers like they 

did not nearly sink my shoulder 

as I hauled them home. 

Whether it's a clump of greens 

that needs trimming, or tomatoes 

aching to be lacerated, 

I trust you not to refuse. 

Last week at the market, a seller waved 

a set of new knives he swore 

could reach an orange's center 

quicker than any other. 

I smirked because you were home, patient 

like the snow leopard, waiting 

for fresh prey to spring up.

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Michael Akuchie is the author of Wreck (The Hellebore Press, 2020), a debut chapbook of poems selected by José Olivarez to win the 2020 Hellebore Poetry Scholarship Award. His poems have appeared in Poet Lore, The Rumpus, Gordon Square Review, Lost Balloon, and other places.  He reads poetry submissions for Iron Horse Literary Review and Poetry Sango as Associate Editor and Editor respectively. Akuchie is an MFA Poetry student at SIU, Carbondale.