Eating Cactus from a Jar
And white bread
soggy with mustard and wet crackers
with my fingers; everything
with my fingers and my tongue and the roof
of my mouth; eating
cactus, onions, carrots, peppers
diced in vinegar and Jalapeño mustard and baked
wheat squares with lemon flavoring
and black pepper, all of them
with my hands, my mouth; eating
and eating and eating and eating
till the vinegar spills
down my arms, and the mustard
and the crumbs catch
in the corners of my mouth and the creases of my elbows
stick, the cactus, mustard, pepper, starch;
eating till my body fills
and keeps the cactus from a jar,
mustard, soggy lemon-pepper jumble.
Ana Garza
Eating Cactus from a Jar.” Crab Orchard Review. Spring/Summer 2003.
