Poetry: Pink Slime

by Leah Iannone

there are times, when
disappointment about a mango’s innards
causes you to think about
an even sweeter kind of dinner
tiny sugar shapes, sprinkles for instance
not the not-sweet pink meat that is having its moment

I want to be the girl who keeps cakes in her fridge
not cracked pepper crackers in her cabinet
cakes look good in my fridge—fancy
and girly and white

there’s a cake in my house, a cake in my house
a cake a cake a cake in my house!
but oh, that confection is a nag

Let’s stand in that healthy perimeter of the grocery
while everyone’s breathing on the cheese
and talk about carrots
and how they’re overrated
because we all know they are
so let’s just declare it a truth,
and beauty

I’d like to think I have more
produce reaction time than most
so that when the discussion
of carrots comes up,
as it always does
I can prepare a passionate argument
and stand firmly behind stalks of celery

Leah Iannone lives in Brooklyn, NY and loves it despite it being a borough. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, 12th Street, The Best American Poetry blog, Alimentum, Redheaded Stepchild, PAX Americana, Barrow Street, and Psychic Meatloaf. Her first book of poems, Fantasies May Vary, is currently trying to find a proper home.