,

I am Drunk at Soul Shack Again


I didn't mean to chip your tooth, 
but what the dry mouth does when the wet flesh is flensed away
is nobody's business but the bones
Swallow me whole, then--

I'm sorry,
she taps her pen to her lip
this isn't bad, but I have to ask 

What's with all the cannibal shit?
Do you have any poems where people don't eat each other? 

And I could spin some gristle
about how life took the weight I used to wield
the punch that rang hammerblow-strong through my blood
and crispy fried it right out of me
I could suggest that the best attempt at affirmation any of us nuggets have left
hinges only on what we consume
or whom

But honestly
Sometimes we eat each other
because we eat each other
and any stated reason 
is self-defense after the fact

Spit me out somewhere with good topsoil, would you?
Who knows what might spring up

Featured photo courtesy of author.


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