Loafer

Robert Beveridge

What ended up on the table began

on the side of the highway. but you

of all people know that with enough

hot sauce, enough catsup, maybe a touch

of Taylor ham, even the oldest loafer

in your grandfather’s closet can be made

supple, digestible. Of course there is

the risk of extra protein, iron, manganese,

but you take odds as a marinade. You have

dreamt of this every night since May 12, 1984.

Robert Beveridge (he/him) makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry on unceded Mingo land (Akron, OH). He published his first poem in a non-vanity/non-school publication in November 1988, and it's been all downhill since. Recent/upcoming appearances in Modern Haiku, Powerless, and Discretionary Love, among others.