Tony Roma’s

Jeremy Radin

There are two brownie sundaes on the table—one is in front of me, one is in front of my sister,we're at dinner with our mom who we don't knowis on cocaine, who's wearing sunglasses & havinga hard time tasting her food, & my sister saysshe doesn't want her brownie sundae so I decide,once I've finished mine, that I will eat hers as well,it's 1997-or-8, I'm eating my sister's brownie sundae& our mom tells me I'm not to continue eatingmy sister's brownie sundae, but I want to continue(though unaware that I want to continue in serviceof what wants to discontinue me), so I say I'mgoing to, & our mom says no you're not & I sayyes I am & she says no & I say oh gosh are yougoing to start being a mom all the sudden (noI don't), & then she brings up my weight whichis tied to nothing, what am I, twelve, thirteen,& my sister hasn't yet entered treatment, & momhasn't yet had the gastric bypass, & I've not yet triedto squash the illogic of craving with the taller illogicof god so our mom pours black pepper all overthe sundae is how the ordeal ends & I'm furiousbut then she is laughing & my sister is laughingso I guess, ha ha, I too am laughing—not thatit's funny, but that she thinks I can be stopped

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Jeremy Radin is a poet, actor, playwright, teacher, and extremely amateur gardener. His poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in PloughsharesThe Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, Gulf Coast, The Journal, and elsewhere. He is the author of two collections of poetry: Slow Dance with Sasquatch (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012) and Dear Sal (not a cult press, 2017). He was born and lives in Los Angeles where he earned his MFA in Eating Large Sandwiches at Brent’s Delicatessen.

Fall 2020

Editor
Rob MacDonald

Associate Editor
Jaime Zuckerman

Sixth Finch is an online journal of poetry and art, founded in 2008 and updated quarterly.

Poems in Sixth Finch have appeared in Best of the Net, The Best American Poetry, Bettering American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize.

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