By Marilee Goad
for Anthony Bourdain
do we drink from the bottle
or the glass?
you asked and she said i’m a lady, i should drink from
the glass
and you didn’t say well, i’m a man, just said, good to
know,
and followed suit,
your beer frothing over its lip
as you tasted food she called comfort
while she rattled off stories stewed in discomfort
you said nothing, just listened, asked
questions
she told you,
when you see your enemy as human, your whole world
changes
nothing can be the same
again
you nodded: do they cry?
they break down, touch cheek to cheek
remember the war
but say
you are my brother now
and in the ellipsis you allowed a story to unfold
over meals known and unknown,
the beer cold
your ear warm
a whole world disinterred though the gaze of a man
who ate our food and said
you are my brother now
i see you
i hear you
clinked your beer glass against ours and said
let’s eat.
Marilee Goad attended the University of Chicago and has work published or forthcoming in Ghost City Review, OUT/CAST, and Georgetown University School of Medicine's Scope arts magazine.