SIT LIKE A LADY for Mickey Mouse.

We all grew up hungry.
Fruit-snack fingered. Granola bar mashing.
Goldfish chomping. Pie-crust peeling--
hungry creatures-- who took three
years to learn how to open
kitchen cabinets-- who believed 
that pockets could be a suitable place
to store doughnut holes. Taste-graced Gods  
who knew nothing about how girls order
salads and how girls eat slowly and
how girl don't wipe their hands on
their thighs-- spread wide in a plaid skirt--
SIT LIKE A LADY.
I folded pizza slices like airplanes and
I didn't know I was supposed to be
a girl so I used to brag that I could
eat THREE whole pieces of pizza in one sitting. 
My friend Patrick, curly hair and
cinnamon-bun-cheeked 
said he could eat the WHOLE PIZZA-- but I didn't 
believe him. Boys always say they can eat more--
We all started to learn about
hunger on our knees-- fumbled in the dark
for cabinet handles-- read the back of boxed mixes--
baked cookies without baking soda
just to scrape them off the tray
with a soup spoon. Milk swim with the crumbs--
Stirred macaroni like an iron chef and 
added spices that sounded gourmet like curry
and cumin and coriander.  
Learned about microwaves and the faces 
that marshmallows made inside them.
Learned grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Learned brownie batter and sour dough buns 
and chocolate chip sandwiches.
Learned licking muffin skirts and the bottoms
of bowls of butternut squash soup.
Unlearning food comes faster than the 
dark-kitchen fumbling years of warm 
and knees and blankets and snack-bags--
They only needed to start telling me I was
a girl SIT LIKE A LADY.
FATTY. girl-with-ripped-jean-thighs
TUBBY. girl-with-bare-feet-and-walnut-ankles
FAT. girl-with-cinnamon-raisin-bagels-cream
cream-cheeks-wraps-her-hair-in-Caesar-dressing--
-still-believed-in-garlic-bread-and-pecan-swirls.
Mickey Mouse watched me try to eat a black and
white striped finger cake across the buffet table
in Disney World-- it was full of raspberry jelly
I remember knowing what a calorie was.
I remember how heavy the cake felt and how big his eyes 
were and I remember hating my tongue.
I leanred how to half finish pasta with artichoke hearts
underneath robot dinosaurs. Learned to scoop cups
of cheerios and cut them in half. Learned donuts cut in half.
Apples cut in half. Grilled cheese cut in half
Mickey Mouse was always watching to pick up the 
uneaten pieces I started leaving in the corners 
of plates. Mickey served Gelato.
He roasted sugar-almonds so that every street
smelled like hungry-- He performed at the Hibachi grill
and threw fire in my face to try to roast
my skin like PIZZA cheese. Mickey Mouse could eat
a WHOLE PIZZA-- box and all and wipe raspberry jelly
from his chin and mash granola bars in his gloved 
hands. He laughed because I was a girl-body
and I forgot to cross my legs SIT LIKE A LADY
DON'T lick muffin skirts-- they'll know you
want to kiss girls and cinnamon raisin bagels
SIT LIKE A LADY and unlearn hunger. 
Learn the language of labels-- count the
heads goldfish while Mickey Mouse watches
you unlearn how to eat pizza.