top of page
To
Disappear

Featured Poem: "Mascot"
Mascot
for a friend with bulimia
One year in high school
as team mascot
you wore another skin,
leaping as a panther
at pep rallies
and football games,
losing your body
wholly inside another
a few hours every week,
and no one knew it was you.
The panther
had swallowed you up,
it was his problem now, his
the calories and pounds
to lose, his
the image in the tubas
and cymbals, he was the one
to make others laugh
and cheer.
At the end of the night
when he vomited you
back up, the panther
could hide
in your closet,
nothing but skin,
without spirit,
staring out at you
with his comforting,
vacant eyes.
bottom of page