Chopsticks

I like to eat from a bowl
with sticks, I measure
my hunger by how well they work:
at first I can’t quite get enough rice
between the tips to make it worthwhile,
but a little practice and my stomach filling
I slow down,

I get bigger loads in;

then I sit back & poke
the few grains that still cling to the bowl.
I pretend they are a people in famine.
I lift them up, one by one, out
_ _of the bowl, I feed them my tongue.