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Sarah Lilius

Food Story

I will die with this struggle clutched
in my teeth like a carbohydrate.
 
A food story dangles, drips fatty
with images of myself skinny
 
cracking hard breadsticks
against my abdominal muscles.
 
Rogue girl with the stomach
blames it on child rearing, the stretch
 
and pull of life makes translucent
tracks across this middle place.
 
How can two small boys
harbor as fat cells for years after?
 
What kind of magic passes into my mouth?
Corn syrup moves slow into my organs.
 
Even if blood tests tell the doctors
I’m surviving without a thigh gap,
 
my flabby arms sprout wings
constructed of cake and bone.
 
I’ll fly away someday with my breadbasket,
Diet Pepsi, and pads of butter that I’ll lay
 
over my eyes when I’ve eaten myself
to near death, a place where this war no longer consumes me.
 
My food story in the making, I drop cupcakes
into the open grave, watch small animals
 
dive into the hole without helping
them back out.

Biography

Picture
Sarah Lilius (she/her) is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Dirty Words (Indie Blu(e) Publishing 2021) and six chapbooks. Some of her publication credits include Fourteen Hills, Boulevard, Massachusetts Review and New South. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two sons. Her website is sarahlilius.com.
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ISSN 2639-426X
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  • Home
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  • Press
  • Issues
    • Issue 49
    • Issue 48
    • Issue 47
    • Issue 46
    • Issue 45
    • Issue 44
    • Issue 43
    • Issue 42
    • Issue 41
    • Issue 40
    • Issue 39
    • Issue 38
    • Issue 37
    • Issue 36
    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions