I.

  tonight it is free to clink
           glasses with luxury
      at the steakhouse downtown

              my first
                 Manhattan
               since Day One

       I have been
                              red meat squeezed
                                   of all its blood a puddle
        at your recommendation

                on our plates a weight
                       to our long
         day
                  but hey
                                                    a hundred bucks?

     you produced The Hunger
                                                Games

& film’s
                        a hungry hundred days
                                     believing

the dream is not a struggle

II.

                                              trout on dry
                              land among
          the cattle

                              wriggling
                    out the net we lose ourselves
              in work

yet
                           gorge
       on appetizers

          bacon-wrapped around
each other

                    the shrimp
is not taboo
           nor endless
                                 with buttery bread

I can’t end
                              this twelve-hour
               shift

III.

I long to spend
free time free

but you close
your eyes when

you talk to me
like you can’t

bear to sit
at the same table

in the down-
trodden way

I say hey
this could be

my favorite
restaurant

over and over
to no one

(originally published in bluepepper, Spring 2023)