GUT

It’s all in there.
Bacon with my Grandmother at a bus station in Nebraska
Bad lasagna from the first weekend pretending to be married
Snack cakes and soda after a date
Smoked sausage from a recording session
A cheeseburger at Piccadilly Circus
Chicken strips during the best conversations I’ve known
Novelty shots and cigarettes drowning her leaving
Cookie dough down the throat and out the car window
Michigan bar food while my father poured out his broken heart
Pizza and my first sip of beer – fearing addiction and wanting a girl
Wedding cake
Hospital vending machine food from 2 days trying to induce labor
Queso and chips from my friend’s daughters wake
Big Eye sashimi with an old Hollywood friend
Cheese and sausage outside a little Galena IL shop in the parking lot
Free hot dogs around a huge table filled with buzzing actors
The chicken that went to waste when we started screwing that night
Left over party snacks for breakfast after my Dad’s 40th
Black milk food colored away from adult supervision
Jelly babies with Rich
Chicken loaf in the oven after having my tonsils removed
Bread pudding with the people I thought I would be related to
Bagels on a Saturday morning with the boy
Breakfast bar in Baton Rouge
Doughnuts and poetry at 2am
Cod tongue on a chilly Norwegian evening
Red Leicester cheese and fruit under the English channel
Tres Leches and plantains in Miami
Midnight crackers and giggles in a tent, action figures dancing in the flashlight glow
It’s all in here
Rings in a trunk
Memories trapped in the cells that threaten me
I’m not sure how I feel
I know, excuses
But it’s all here
My past carried around me like a heavy, warm, dead animal
It’s all here