FOOD
GRACE PALEY

My friend who’s ninety-two said sighed
oh Grace there’s not much left when
your time comes you’ll see wait I
forgot at least there’s ice cream

meanwhile she lives on baked beans and
chocolate milk plans letters to the local
papers I know it’s too late now
eat shit you bastards

my other friend who’s forty-one sardonically
asked now is it true you’ve given up
dead cow for cabbage yes yes why not
it’s years since that self-satisfied old
fertility goddess has pestered me
for blood

thirty-five years before he died
my dear friend’s son in childhood’s despair
picked up his second grade lunch box
oh ma is it sardines again?

then lived his life almost to the end
and one day in the hospital oh ma
go down to St. Mark’s Place you’ll find
a tiny restaurant called Chin’s ask
for Tien’s rice and shrimp then if
for once you’ve got it right
I’ll eat it