WASTED
memory slips through crooked fingers,
reaching for seventeen and its promises
we were skinny things
cocaine eyes and cracked lips
sharing cherry gloss between classes
“Thinner is the winner”
we sipped Diet Coke at lunch
a sky-blue cafeteria melting grease and thick laughter
plates of poutine and pizza
a game: how long to eat a pepperoni?
nibble the edge
taste salt on your tongue
salivating
ignore the wolf gnawing in your belly
“Thinner is the winner”
we chewed cinnamon gum at night
a bedroom plastered with DiCaprio posters
praying the pangs away
a hundred leg lifts
gets you there
gets you closer to God
bones, the hollows
then, a hundred more
explore peaks and valleys
the body, a map
flesh burns away like a sacred candle
ribs, the center of the universe
count them all, like stars
now, I am steam rising from a kettle
a disappearing act
or, a distant memory
Author’s Bio
Julia Teeluck is a Canadian writer. Her poetry recently appeared in Feels zine and her short story “42” received first prize in Canvas magazine’s short story contest (Ryerson University). She is a former reader at PRISM international and completing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.