Pennsylvania Farmers’ Market, Lewisburg

Furry red shoulder blades!
Knives big as my face!
Zongo juice, a man tells me, will cure your everything!
He tells me of a man with Crohn’s Disease
on the toilet & the verge of suicide, saved!
I buy a bottle, rub it all over my body!
I’m cured of everything! Sadness, rickets,
& happiness too!
Gee wiz/willickers!
Raw red meat bleeding on brown wax paper!
Fish that smells like fish!
A skinny boy with thick glasses, freckles, and a faded blue tee
tells me to try a strawberry!
Says the little ones are the most sweet!
I bought some and now the little ones taste like tart-bombs!
My mouth has been bombed with tart-berries!
I lift my tongue and discover where spit comes from!
I ate a million berries until I pooped!
& pooped until I couldn’t!
I’ve never been so afraid in my life!
Berries so many berries!






originally published in Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, and Light Industrial Safety