Little bird,
you sat on my sump shoulders
in the winter like a cheap scarf
with a pie of spiced cowardice
and offered to share it
a la mode.

I bit, to be polite.
You stayed for afternoon chatter.
Well enough-- the carnival was already over.
We were out of clowns,
our ringmasters retired. Our caravans
were out of all navigation.
You stayed. Years passed. You finally offered
to indulge my revolving gluttony.
Your special recipe:
goat cheese and strychnine,
flickering grapes and spit roasted
ham hocks harvested by cross-eyed girls
who drooled into their skirts.
The tablecloth stretched under the platters you'd provided.
The weave of fabric nearly burst with your fruit.
It revealed our Magdalene-- horse-meat
braised with chrysanthemums; Grandma's dish
of quince and capers, infused with war and smoke.
This cream and caramel rifle range, what a menu--
fit for a missionary, fit for a jackal.

Your tiny feet stomped the corners
of my eyes with hunger and oriole
but you never could find a fork
and when I left with no hands
as I'd always been
you screamed in anger!

-Tay

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http://www.tayarrowsherman.com/
http://www.olio-academy.com/

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