NEW! Poem by Gary Fincke

Gary Fincke

THE SLEEP DIET


Like Beauty, she pricks herself,
Taking sedatives in the vein.
Whole days disappear. Always,
She rises to the mirror,
Remembering the distance
The drab adjectives travel.

The next meal is water, 
Lettuce and celery 
And the memory of bread.
She stills the teeth that need 
To tear through meat; she holds
Her sugar-loving tongue.

A week of elapsed time 
Is a size, a smaller
Circling of the waist and thighs.
A month, her husband says,
Promising his kiss
When she is perfect. So long
He hasn’t touched her he will
Excite her like a stranger.

During the fourth week
She dreams the brilliant alarm
Of his body, how she wakes
When he enters her,
How, afterward, he slips
Chocolate between her lips.

She is in love with sleep,
The way it lessens her.
Lying down is time travel,
Retreating until she
Retrieves her childish shape,
Her princess body.