by Jack, Jackie, Arush and Aneesh, Seventh grade
The Red Oaks School, Morristown, New Jersey
Where are the skunks in tacos?
Do they hide under the lettuce,
or are they melted into the cheese?
Are they ground up with the beef,
or at the bottom of the salsa cup?
Are they baked in the shell,
or in the seeds of the spicy jalapenos?
Where, oh, where, is that stinky, shoddy, skunk?
The vermin that hides in the depths
of that carbohydrate-loaded pouch of goodness.
That skunk is the greatest at hide and seek;
if you find the skunk you get a refund.
“May I have two tacos, please?”
“Can you find the skunks, Earnest Man?”
The Mann is puzzled,
so he hands them to the poet and asks,
“Where are the skunks in my tacos?”
Written in response to "A Valentine for Ernest Mann" by Naomi Shihab Nye