by Paolina Acuña-González
I wanna say
I bite into flesh
just to hold someone’s skin in my mouth
I wanna say
I’m only hungry because you told me
a belly of rocks and worms
still feels like a full stomach
It’s easy to pretend
hourlong sweat
tastes as sweet
as morning dew on the one hundredth day
wild animals can’t think there’s a forever
they take what they can
and pray they’ll survive another winter
now it’s January
my teeth are dull,
my tongue is salt-scraped,
and I press my lips into another stranger’s shoulder
breathing in bitters and pine sap
forgetting what I was hungry for in the first place
Paolina Acuña-Gonzalez is a Chicana writer and performer based in Los
Angeles. She’s performed her original poetry at LA City Hall, Dynasty
Typewriter, and schools across Southern California as a Get Lit Player with
the viral poetry troupe, Get Lit. Her work has been featured in the LA
Times series, LA F.A.M.” and the film Summertime, which made its debut at
Sundance 2020.