Evening out

 I.

My siblings and I all count

The morsels on our plate

As we serve them up

Walking a line of

Making sure we get enough 

But not so much to draw attention

Or shame for wanting more

My sister never quite seems 

to finish a meal

A ridge of mashed potatoes

(Her favorite) 

Or peas consolidated into one area

She drifts off in a stupor

Knowing there’s something left

For the morning

I think of the scarcity 

Baked into our separate lineages

When I feel hunger crash into me 

From deep ago

And though it comes over me

The same time each day

It takes me by surprise

Has me fiendishly trying to push through 

As if there is some way around it

Apart from stopping for a minute 

And eating peanut butter straight from the jar

II.

I remember the sweet vows

Of a spouse to another 

That they’d always remind the other 

to eat before they became ravenous 

And the sonorous laugh of 

recognition that seemed to

Ring out in the air

As so many pairs in the audience glanced at each other

Eyes crinkled with knowing