Tag: Rebecca M. Ross

I want to eat the crowded streets of winter,
swallowing throngs of red-cheeked revelers
and harried shoppers

I want to stuff my mouth
with trumpeting car horns in the waning afternoon sun,
tinkling sleigh bells,
brightening streetlights,
and hints of imminent snow and cold
mixed with the smoky warmth of
doughy, salt-covered pretzels

Let me gorge myself on laughing lovers holding hands;
on couples mellowed with age but not spirit;
on friends celebrating memories
in the shadows of skyscrapers
stretching towards the bleak winter sky

I want to taste the city,
lick it greedily from my lips,
hold it solidly in my mouth like a rare delicacy

I want to quell my insatiable hunger
with that one saporous bite
of anonymity and acceptance,
the essence of Manhattan
engulfing me fully in its flavor
once again

Rebecca M. Ross hails from Brooklyn but currently lives, hikes, and teaches in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work has been published in The Metaworker, Medical Literary Messenger, The Voices Project, the Dissent Anthology, Rat’s Ass Review, and others, with work forthcoming or published in M58, Flora Fiction, and Backchannels.

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