" First, make sure
the ocean is rolled
by an older woman
whose quick fingers
have been rolling the ocean
for as long as you’ve been alive –
She’ll fatten the rice in hot,
sugared water spiked
with rice vinegar
then make a soft bed of it to wrap
a slip of fish muscle,
squeezing the bamboo rolling mat
until the ocean’s circumference
is compacted in seaweed’s
brittle corsetry.
It takes her just moments
to dress the ocean,
its nudity a pink tongue
poking
from iridescent green nori wrap "

― Jalina Mhyana , The Wishing Bones