Around Midnight

timing was never more important

than opportunity when hungry

we ate out, or would grab something

maybe just an amuse-bouche

at the bus shelter, a first course perhaps

irrespective of weather

because hungry is no respecter of climate

we always ate together

we rarely went without without

in sun, the rain, the snow

until naturally our routines began to drift

into more regular meal routines

before economy and fate peeled us apart

eventually

I returned one midnight

to oranges, not as a ravenous teenager

body craving any food or fruit every hour

these midnight oranges were rarer

at first a self-indulgent treat

until our segmentation complete

meant for awhile midnight oranges

were the only food

that I had to eat

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty Two prompt: metonymy – midnight oranges. Good luck looking that up.

~

CLP 22/04/2021