April Fools
Rent from DeepDyve- April Fools
i can’t help but return to the image of your refrigerator and freezer again i want to say it was barren, devoid of a single morsel of food— not even left overs or condiments saved way past expiration dates
but what i see when i rewind is a too clean, spotless space staged to elicit my knee jerk pity response mixed with a tinge of guilt, your pretend glee as i urge you to fill up the shopping cart and the happy dance you perform outside of the cigarette shop
it seems that even when a relationship has spoiled and begins to collect mold if i try to throw away everything with an odd odor or with hard edges distance myself from stale, tasteless former favorites— the bread and water of our history together
there is always nothing left but a cold empty box and my uncontrollable urge to fill it [End Page 19]
Frank X Walker coined the term, “Affrilachian” to refer to Appalachian African-Americans and founded Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture. He is the author of five poetry collections and serves the University of Kentucky as an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Director of the African American and African Studies Program.
