Kim Roberts Pantoum with Catheter and Total Parenteral Nutrition The uneaten food in the fridge
was more symbol than sustenance,
but she simply couldn't throw it out
although she was covered in tubes.More symbol than sustenance—
the spice rack, the cookbooks—
although she was covered in tubes
and her food was a thick yellow liquid.The spice rack, the cookbooks,
the years of kitchen lore:
now her food was a thick yellow liquid
dripping through her IV.The years of kitchen lore
were one identity sloughed off.
Dripping through her IV
was the reduction of a past life.One identity sloughed off,
the uneaten food in the fridge
was a reduction from a past life—
and she simply couldn't throw it out.