Gluttony

by Jessica Mehta

The cherries, the birds
got them all, gobbled them up

spit down the pits

for the lawnmower to chew through.

I was five, and the blank fields

went on for acres. Each spring

the blossoms birthed, the fruits

got heavy and the birds

got fat, feasted

like winged gods.


Jessica Mehta is a a multi-award-winning poet and author of the just-released "Selected Poems: 2000 - 2020," the winner of the Birdy Prize from Meadowlark Books. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, space, place, and ancestry in post-colonial "America" informs much of her work. You can learn more at www.thischerokeerose.com.