Appetizer, Meal, Dessert

(Found here)

I wish I could eat the dinner table
The one we sat around

we were a family
Go back and finish the meatloaf
Crunch the plate between my teeth
Chew up my fork and knife
Swallow those moments whole
Carry them around
In my stomach.
I would carefully peel each piano key
Suck the marrow out of every measure
These things will expire soon unless consumed
I assumed you knew this.
It was you who first held a spoon to my drooling lips
You who taught me to eat what I hate
and what I love
. . . 

I was fed my mother’s laugh.
It bubbles up out of me unexpected.

~Raquel Hargrove