Philippians 3:19  Francesca Kritikos

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Today, even the garments pinned on the balcony clothesline won’t move. Freed of their bodies, they don’t know what to do except hang in the heat.

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In a dream you told me I was born of Orpheus, made to be followed.

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I’ve heard that since I left you, you’ve lost so much weight you’re hardly recognizable.

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My greediest lover, you still have my lace top, my money, my dirty underwear you said you didn’t want but never gave back.

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I joined a secret forum full of beautiful women, who speak of a world lost to gluttony and ignorance.

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Philippians 3:19: “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”

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In Crete, I stopped for lunch at a taverna in the mountains, where an old man told me that no one is hungry anymore, but everyone has an appetite.

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I like my bread dark and hard to bite into. I suck on black olives and smoke and wonder what kind of person tries to swat away flies.

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I never got to tell you what I learned.

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Love is a biological weapon God invented so that animals born in captivity, with no interest in anything but mirrors, can spread disease.