Love Poem to Taco Bell
Full-on, no bullshit, no irony, yes Taco Bell
where I can almost always pull together the
cash to get dinner, at my brokest
scrounging up enough change
for the pillowy warmth of a bean burrito,
extra red sauce, meant to be eaten
behind the steering wheel in a parking lot
or while driving, the wrapper crumpled up
and thrown on the passenger side floor,
leftover napkins stashed in the glovebox.
In high school we’d ditch seventh period
and drive 10 miles down I-5 to the closest town
big enough to have a Taco Bell,
where we’d house as much food as we could
pay for, lounging in the pinkpurplegreen vinyl
or the metal swivel chairs we’d knock knees under,
giving each other dares around fire sauce,
hoarding packets of mild sauce to douse everything.
And forever, my love to the Taco Bell employees,
who took my order when I was drunk or high or crying,
who listened and fed me without too much judgment
through high school and college and my thirties,
and a special love for the two who pushed my car
through the drive-thru, once, when it broke down
mid-order. I couldn’t afford a tow until payday.
They let me leave it in the lot.
This is how I know labor is entitled to all it creates,
and that given a chance most of us are helpers,
we want to help people and to be helped
by people, amidst the absolute and delicious
loveliness of ordinary things.
Copyright © 2026 by Rebecca Bornstein. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 23, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
“I was inspired by a podcast to write love poems to unconventional subjects, starting with Taco Bell. I grew up in rural environments where there weren’t many places for young people to hang out, and Taco Bell was one of the few places we could spend time without spending a lot of money. It wasn’t until I got to the end of writing the poem that I realized what I really loved about Taco Bell was its function as a third place, and a location where people cared for one another in this really beautiful and human way.”
—Rebecca Bornstein