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"Bougainvilla" by Lauren Dostal

I sat among the bougainvillea branches eyeing each 1-inch thorn tickling my various limbs and listened to the voice crying from the back door.

"You'll eat your foot if you don't get back here!"

I glanced down at the rubber sole, already gnawed away in anxious habit. Shoes are an irreplaceable barrier to my nervous jaw.

"Hybiscus" by Lauren Dostal
 

Hibiscus flowers look like gunshot wounds

Splayed across the front side of your house

But perhaps this is only because

I remember the way your body looked

Pale white in a two piece swimsuit

Lying spread eagle on the lawn

Dwarfed by your giant red beach towel

"Diet" by Lauren Dostal
 

Whenever I diet

My body tricks me

Into believing

That I am so hungry

I could swallow the

Entire refrigerator

In the middle of the night

Dragging my zombie body

Over the beige carpet

To the open doors

Blue light

Welcoming me

Like an old friend

Hello, dear freeze-dried

Ice cream tub

Of Ben & Jerry’s

Fish food

I missed you, too. 

Hello

Week-old take-away

Half an old burger

Soggy bun

Beef hard as a rock

Tumbling around

In my starved gut

I’ll eat you, too,

Even though

I didn’t miss you at all.