Imagining a Sandwich

Poetry by Wes Civilz

Kind of imagining a sandwich. Kind

Of maybe ham and cheese with mustard. Kind

Of thinking how I’d chew it slow and grind

It good between my molars. In my mind,

Blending the several flavors till they pop

A pearl of dopamine inside my skull

And flood my brainpan through and through and up

And down, and in my head there’s now a lull,

For once, in all the pandemonium

Of ego, dream and flesh. And it is, mmm,

Kind of becoming clear that I am, um,

Unable to remove this sandwich from

My thoughts. But I will not allow myself to eat

Today. I will stay hungry. Sharp. Complete.

BIO: Wes Civilz lives next to a dusty cactus in Tucson, Arizona. His writing has appeared in journals such as The Antioch Review, The Threepenny Review, Arts & Letters, and Quarterly West. He also posts writing-oriented videos on Instagram under the handle @wes_civilz.