Marrow
April 06, 2016
Inside out
empty words heaped
overflowing my corning wear
teenage comprehension
I put the words
reluctantly
in my mouth
while you watched me
chew
through sinew
and gristle
and shame
until you would leave
your cigarette clinging
to the cracked corner of your lip
I never swallowed
just hid my secrets
in white Dixie napkins
clenched between
the three finger
thigh gap
Outside in
labels on
sneakers
and skin tight jeans
you insisted
We couldn’t afford
Instead
You laid me down
on the sanitary tabloid paper
and zipped me up
in a comfortable
yet fashionable
and zipped me up
in a comfortable
yet fashionable
diagnosis
I learned
how to scrape
the marrow
from a weightless
milk fed
ideal
I sought
sanctuary
in dexatrim
and posthumous
doctors orders
that left
my spine
twisted and thrashing
on the concrete floor
It was here
I could hear
the words
they were not hers
but my own
bottom
calling me
up
I grew
out from the ovule
buried
deep
in
living
breathing
beautiful
being
now
I trace
the space
between
costae
along clavicle curve
and
I swallow
Inspired by the NaPoWriMo 2016 #5 prompt to write a poem about food
Image: Marrow Sprouts
1 comments
Intense. One of your best so far.
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