Contributor Series 8: Feast and Famine
Lately
By Austin Alexis
since my surgery
I’ve been having dreams about food,
buckets of Kentucky Fried–
brimming, mouthwatering.
Bacon, also, sizzles its way
into my imaginings.
And cakes, their chocolate icing,
their sugary flakes
corrupt my chaste brain.
I dream of all the foods
I don’t allow myself.
My conscious mind is a nun
deviled by false gods of plates, trays,
heaped bowls trumpeting deliciousness.
They’re traps, tricks, sadistic but weirdly festive
these streaming hallucinations,
these visions that should be nightmares,
these ravings that chain me
in tangles of smoky aromas.
I breathe in.
That’s my first mistake.
Austin Alexis’ poem The Surprise appeared at vox poetica in February 2011.
I’ve been so good for the last two days about my diet, then comes your luscious poem and I’m throwing frozen blocks out of the freezer, searching for the Breyer’s vanilla. Your words have corrupted me . . .
Sharon
Great images; amazing line breaks, and the restrain the author shows…until! Thanks for sharing this delight.
I’m away from home and stopped to check on Vox. I have a big dinner tonight and reading this poem makes so hungry. So if I gain a couple of pounds…it’s your fault. 🙂