Dodo Eraser

Meat

I look in the mirror and I see something raw and hunted, left hanging to drain slowly

Fish

Remember the story where mermaid flesh is eaten to achieve immortality and it’s very definitely a curse?

Dairy

Freud would say something gross about drinking milk having to do with our mothers’ breasts, but he’s an absolute kook

Nuts

I feel like the other nuts must judge brilliant green pistachios for being flashy, and as someone blamed for their appearance I would know

Fruits

All of life is scattering seeds through offerings of flesh, then tricking the seeds into starting over

Vegetables

We compete to grow the largest thing and you never hear about how it tastes or if it fills anyone

Grains

Wheat and rice are without fuss about their lack of flowers, I really have to learn from that unadorned vitality

Fats

This is imposing I’m sure, but please put me between your teeth and chew and chew and chew so I break down into something more manageable

Oils

People move like they have different viscosities, as if all the world is fluid, trying to figure out how to intermingle or separate

Sugars

Eating crystals sounds very glamorous, which might be why so much patisserie looks like fragile jewelry boxes inviting devastation

Mykki Rios is a queer genderfluid Mexican-American writer, performer and multimedia artist. Raised in Chicago, and having lived many places across the globe, they recently returned home to the Windy City. Mykki has had works featured in issues of Welter, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Random Sample Review, Smoke and Mold Journal, The Normal School, Apparition Literature, HAD,  Tampa Review, underscore magazine, londemere lit, BRAWL Lit, Synkroniciti Magazine, and more. They were also a finalist in Lupercalia Press’ 2022 Chapbook Series Contest.