Journey through a Meal – Personal Poetry Collection

(Long-ish intro/explanation. Feel free to skip down to the poem below.)

I wrote this as an antsy teen the day I came back from a school trip. My parents rarely let me stay overnight with anyone or for any reason. Miraculously, the exception was the annual state competition with the math team when I was in high school. It was a weekend trip and it was marvelous. The only time I was apart from my family growing up. I love my family, but I’m quite a loner. It was suffocating growing up constantly surrounded by people. Guys. I wasn’t even allowed to close my bedroom door unless I was changing!

Anyway, now, six years later ends my hero’s journey (nerdy literature reference). I’m really glad to go home, but I know myself and I know it won’t last. For the last five years I’ve avoided home. I went to university six hours away by car then to an internship six hours away by plane. For the last five years I’ve only been home during winter and summer breaks, maybe three months out of the year. Now I’m moving back for the foreseeable future. Until I take an exam, get my license to work as a dietitian, and make enough money to move out. Foreseeable future. Probably a year at least. So…. yes. Relatable poem, me from six years ago.

The day this was published was also the day I took a plane home from my nutrition internship in Puerto Rico to my home in Texas.

 

May 1, 2013

Journey through a Meal

     The part was decadent

     being set free: incredulous

     Why so much longing? 

    It’s coming back to me.

 

    Cream-filled middle

    sweet but delicate

    All in the moment,

    then, it’s gone.

   It’s coming back to me.

 

   The cream’s gone sour

   feelings of worry and

   absence run through

   Fork set down,

   platter pushed away.

  It’s coming back to me.

 

  Only crumbs and rot left

  nothing to savor.

  Dishes stained

  nothing has changed.

I have come back.