LUNCH WITH AN EX AT THE SNOUT OTTER CLAM PUB

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* Peruvian Hat * Snout Otter Clam * Strawberry Top * Incised Moon * Sparse Dove * False Cup-and-Saucer * Leather Donax * Shuttlecock Volva * Striped Engina * Tricolor Niso * Triangular Nutmeg * Shoulderblade Sea Cat * Woody Canoebubble * Ghastly Miter * Heavy Bonnet * Tuberculate Emarginula * Lazarus Jewel Box * Unequal Bittersweet * Atlantic Turkey Wing *

What are all those, you ask. They are the genesis of today's NaPoWriMo prompt. Someone in the prompt department got ahold of a comprehensive guide to sea shells, and these are some of their names. Who knew? And someone in the prompt department promptly got the idea to lay some of these names on us and suggest we write a poem including some of the names. However one would want to do that. 

Lunch With An Ex at the Snout Otter Clam Pub 

Remember when you asked why I had

a striped engina and I had to turn away

to hide a smile before explaining that the word

was vagina and why did you think it was striped,

anyway? Oh, the confusions that can arise 

when a word is mispronounced, misunderstood.

And now here we are. We receive our libation 

in a false cup-and-saucer. I have decided, unilaterally,

 to call those wizened bumps atop my bra

 a strawberry top, to go with the muffin top

couched lower down. A veritable meal on the torso,

I don't even have to go out. The sparse dove of truth

flies around our heads, looking for a place to land. 

The shoulderblade sea cat prepares to pounce 

on the Atlantic turkey wing, just off the coast 

of some celebratory meal or other. Although we are

unequal, bittersweet is the way into the Lazarus jewel box

that lurks beneath the incised moon, your Peruvian hat

looking svelte and prickly alongside my heavy bonnet.

I hear you're driving a Shuttlecock Volva now.

Me? I have an old sedan I call Woody Canoebubble

because when I drive it in the rain the floor bubbles up. 

(I named it Woody after you, as a joke, you understand.)

And that jacket, the one hanging on the bedpost, 

is it leather, you wonder? If you dunno, donax. 

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