did you know that goldfish can eat themselves to death? make space for more and more till every cell of their being is bursting. overflowing with the existence of matter they don’t have room for. drowning in the pool that nurtured them. they remind me of girls. of girls who carry ghosts of nostalgia in the tips of their eyelashes. girls with stones embedded in the soles of their feet, till they’re nothing but a patch of bloodwork; soft gold flowing in paths of gravel. girls with bruised knees and gingham dresses and smiles that hold the warmth of the fire that burnt them alight. girls that I fell in love with.

I ate them with supper; burnt rice with an entrée of wishes. I swallowed the pieces that pricked their skin and drank every single tear at bedtime. I ate and ate till I had memories blocking my windpipe. till the fear in their souls made its way into the crevice in my bones and faith blossomed in the scars on my skin. I ate my fill and more.