Mountain Dew
You do not want to hear me cry
I’m hungry
Must I hide from YOU all that is painful
In your palace?
Mother works a bit, weeding and at the market Sundays.
Daddy is here and
Not here
I’m hungry
[ I chew my lip.
My tongue makes a wet circle from chapped corner to chapped corner.]
Daddies home no one hired him today, no one hired him yesterday.
Beer bottles stack up in his truck.
Sometimes he brings me and the baby Mountain Dew!
It’s cheaper than milk Ma says!
While Ma works in the neighbors garden weeding
I fill the babies bottle with orange soda, his tongue turns color
We laugh in the mirror.
I’m so hungry, but I know you don’t want to know that.
I see her, look baby she has a brown bag!
Red tomatoes, green and yellow squash roll across the old kitchen table.
Get the fry pan honey Ma smiles….
The corn oil sizzles on the black caste iron, as she tosses in the sliced
Veggies…I lick my lips
The door of Dad’s truck opens..and he stumbles head down toward the backdoor.
Daddy smiles. “What’s for dinner.” he says.
He takes a raw squash and bites.
“What NO meat?”
“God, I’m hungry”
*In America 1 out of seven families today are on food assistance.
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