Do you remember the flavor of hunger
The
acid of it Roll from throat to stomach
Begin to taste the fat, clumsy tongue
a trick heaviness in your gut
Hunger is an eclipsing thing, leaves a
shadow
Succulents,
your ache is the water stored in your limbs
When they pluck you by the fistful &
pot you
in
Midwest bedrooms, you hold your liquid tight
know not to count on the daily hand on
watering can
I
am sorry to the rescue dogs making messes
on suburban white carpets
You were just one dog in a big pack
learned
to carry food in the crook of your jaw to far corner
scarf it down on the floor
I know a new ache
pain
my stomach emptying plates that continue to be full
what if tomorrow is different
My
boyfriend wears worried eyes
grocery
store carts stacked like potato chip Jenga blocks
fruit rotting weekly on the counter
Chrissy Martin is a PhD candidate at Oklahoma State University and a recent graduate from the Poetry MFA program at Columbia College Chicago. She also holds a BA in English from The University of Akron with minors in Creative Writing, Women’s Studies, and Popular Literature and Film. She is the Poetry Editor for Arcturus and has previously worked as an editor for Columbia Poetry Review and RHINO Poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Amazon's Day One, Voicemail Poems, MISTRESS, (b)OINK, and Small Po[r]tions.
