He invited me by for supper,
That night when we first met.
We sliced the meat, peeled the vegetables, boiled the pasta, and ground the herbs.
I gave him my memoirs and he read the front and back covers seeming to have had his fill.
Each evening we ate, and each evening I’d bring another piece of me for him to swallow with dessert
I would bring him only my best wanting him to be full to the brim with me
My mothers first kisses, my grandmothers worn hands, my sisters strength, my most vehement desires
He would consume the bits slowly, gnashing them away into confines of his keeping
Until he became my hope chest
One dream tangled into the next like hair in a shower drain
Greedily and tired of my shrill voice he disappeared with all of my best fragments:
My father’s security, my grandpas strong back, my uncles wise eyes, generations of independence
Flies hovering over the smell of rotting fruit. A mess of sticky apricots, dry meat, stale bread and pasta. The noodles, still being sucked down by you - like hair down a drain.
I stay seated at the table.
Dressed in nightmares and holding my eulogy I wait
for him to be hungry for the leftovers.