the “wee tea”
a child’s sampler
urge the fractious toddler to
“just have a taste”
nursery food on a plate
rectangle triangle circle
cubed, it’s a geometry lesson
dowager eats a cucumber sandwich sixth
half-circle and square in the gullet
mini-scone with chicken and apple
dissect, bite, wait
bite bite bite
each barely enough to taste
she argues the garnish into an entree
a piece of apple!
a sprig of parsley!
lopsided heart/cross section/
a strawberry!
left: the lemon loaf
butter pecan slice
shortbread cookie
pinwheel of egg salad
loops round and round
to a pinprick mayonnaise centre
an object lesson
wishes her stomach could be
a doggy bag or box
take it home and store it
distribute the largesse
but to eat it?
no
“at home,” in her suite
she eats on saucers
conjures a dollop
into a serving
leaf-thin bites
doll-house implements and cutlery
no need for stool softeners
the smallest of consumables
a fraction of a fraction
whetstone in use
knives kept sharp to aid habit
a cut to appall
the remains so small
the very tip
off a point of cake
the remainder
still looks isosceles
if not a lesson in geometry
fractions or
declining decimals, then what?
Word Problem:
how little fat below
how little skin
sinew on cartilage
to bind bone to bone
Crystal Hurdle’s most recent book, Teacher’s Pets, a novel in verse for young adults, was published by Tightrope Books in 2014. She teaches English and creative writing at Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and is a former fiction editor of The Capilano Review.