NaPoWriMo, Day Ten: “Calorie Counting”

Calorie Counting

In the old days, before
my own personal modernism,
I ate whatever I wanted.
Now I’m a man of progress,
always making plans and lists,
starting projects. Meals
become mathematical — calories
heap up, the loud ticking
of a counter in my brain
with each bite. It’s all a matter
of betterment: to attain
some kind of perfection
always a few adjustments
away. Often I hate myself
for this, my urge to restrict
and my failure to sustain
the restrictions. I should
have always known this is just
how the dream of progress
fails: we think we can make
our worlds better and end
up eating ourselves. We’re all,
in our own ways, insatiable.

Thanks for reading! April is National Poetry Writing Month, and this year I’m writing and publishing a poem about food each day. My 2021, 2020, and 2019 NaPoWriMo poems (about GIFs, the Fast and Furious movies, and car insurance, respectively) are still live on Medium, so check out my profile if you want more.