Poetry: Doughnuts

at my new job, the men bring me doughnuts daily. they come from 

the cafe, warm and identical. the doughnuts. sometimes just one, 

more often there are three placed in a cardboard cake box, 

the lid with a clear panel so everyone can see what’s inside. 

when that happens, i eat them all and they delight in my 

lack of self control, tease me for my inability to share with others.

each morning i try to judge the mood of the men based on 

the number of doughnuts i am presented with, and wonder 

on single doughnut days whether i have done something wrong, 

whether my response to the previous days’ doughnuts was inadequate.

but mostly i just eat the doughnuts, rubbing the sticky pads 

of my fingertips against my lips, brushing sugar off my thighs.

i've left it too late to contemplate refusing the doughnuts, 

because what if i say no thank you and that's it? 

the doughnuts will stop coming and i will have to buy my 

own lunch, which is expensive. easier to eat the doughnuts 

and be grateful, even on days i don't feel like it; on mornings

when the thought of eating doughnuts makes me nauseous. 

on those days i still accept their paper napkins with enthusiasm

as they wait expectantly for my teeth to pierce the glaze 

wanting to hear that i enjoyed it, watching me swallow the fat 

and potassium happily, reading my calorific intake back to me

like a phone number as i feel the hard welt of the doughnut 

bruising my stomach, lodged deep in my gut like an ulcer. 

are you ready for your doughnut, they say, and i laugh.

my diet starts tomorrow, i say, and they laugh.