Eating together
for Alyssa
I.
I can write of feasts,
locution and orality
the text
of food on the papillae,
the morse codes
tapped lightly out, or
embraced,
hard.
I can write of dessert.
the concept of which
has her
hiding
her portion
of oatmeal
in her
socks.
II.
appetites form
each other: for example,
I write,
becoming hungry.
III.
bread is for eating
bread is for buying – bread, dough – dough is for needing
to buy is to consume. to need is to ache. bread. bake.
gambling with
food: chips, stakes.
gone, and up the ante.
IV.
she appropriated veganness towards
her ends
she said
how much
of what I/you/we eat
causes any
animal
to suffer? she said what I eat: none.
Well, they’ve overridden all that, and are
dropping the tube again this week.
V.
bread is to break
bread is the body
the body is the ghost
the ghost is for giving up
VI.
There is only one way to conquer the monster:
you must eat it, bones blood, skin, pelt, and gristle.
And even then the monster is not dead,
for it lives in you, is assimilated into you,
and you are different
and somewhat monstrous yourself,
for having eaten it.
VII.
Her text, it’s only too easy to
read
deliberate in that way, very
that character.
this one is too sorry to story, too spare to
be stretched into statements. clearly
the body is text, clearly
we have known this since we were 7,
3
we have known.
we need not translate.
Originally Published: Means of Access, Fall 2002