^{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