Death by Chocolate or The Last Meal of Prince Pondicherry
“‘Nonsense!’ shouted the Prince.
‘I’m not going to eat my palace! I’m not even going to
nibble the staircase or lick the walls! I’m going to live in it!”
– Prince Pondicherry to Willy Wonka
Is death delicious in a chocolate
house? Does it wiggle from a Black Forest
hole, a small white chocolate mouse? Closet
baseboard detail of normality he forced
into your chocolate castle fantasy,
coy contractor chocolatier. Overnight
palace appears before the boiling sea
he fears when chocolate walls meet sunrise
in India and capsize into yard,
mint chocolate blades. Swim against the frothed
cocoa waves. Hundred rooms, bricks of bars
liquified, swallowed under stars. This trough
of death commissioned must be bittersweet,
rodent cherry cordial heart between your teeth.
Previously published by Neologism
Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of sixteen books of poetry including Pink Plastic House (Maverick Duck Press), Crow Carriage (The Hedgehog Poetry Press), Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press), The Meadow (APEP Publications) and Golden Ticket forthcoming from Roaring Junior Press. She is the founder of Pink Plastic House a tiny journal and co-founder of Performance Anxiety, an online poetry reading series. Follow her on Twitter @lolaandjolie and her website: kristingarth.com.