gold leaf diet

in the year of the gold leaf diet everyone's motto was
"be less." people the width of thread. we wove
into tapestries of hunger. jumped rope with 
& desires. i became a braid. you became a basket 
heavy with plums. you can come to adore even
the smallest of pleasures. warm water. a plate of nothing
but gold leaf. the television said, "live like a pharaoh." 
servants in between our ribs making clay 
to use for houses. have you ever realized you are
the river? mouth open, spilling crayfish into
open-armed lovers? i would roll the leaf & chew,
remembering the flavor of fat. olive oil. salt. 
metallic feather. the trees that grew the gold 
naked as travelers. then, that one night you woke me
& said, "let's be dangerous." my stomach was 
a pool of piranhas. we dug in the earth until
we found a sweet potato in the shape of an infant's face.
roasting it, the potato screamed & so we sewed 
the mouth shut. waited with waterway tongues 
as it cooled & devoured either half. 
the past fell away & we were nothing but children 
into the future of our golden city. sugar dancing 
between our eyes. you said, "we cannot tell anyone."
i said, "they will all know by looking at us."
joy is the heron. in the water & above it. 
stalking for another root. i asked you,
"should we tell them how sweet this was?"