Mirror Talk
For Madeline
the woman who faked cancer
was the first
to reap the secrets
of your body
her knowing hands
firmly turned
your flesh
into an orchard
every way one can lie
in beauty & truth
she studied, or stole
’til the soil
dried yellow &
the stems hollowed
this season’s harvest moon
an empty plate
before you
left her
you forgave
her hollering fat fuck
the night she left you
in the car to swallow pills
your bottom barely fit
into the chair beside her hospital bed
she never said sorry
or meant it
when she cried
all the fruit dried
& the days got shorter
& you got fatter
with brokenness
fatter with predators
your thighs
expanding into the night
From Song of My Softening by Omotara James (Alice James Books, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Omotara James. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Alice James Books.