It’s the eleventh part of an untitled story about a young writer named Steve. This episode starts at the restaurant where Steve is having lunch with his mother. Then, another poem by Steve. "Fill the Mouth" is about humans, war, gods, and food.
Start at the Beginning: Read Part One.
Untitled Limited Series about a Character Named Steve (part 11):
Lunch and a Poem Called "Fill the Mouth"
Sliced steak cooled on a plate beside peas, which every so often would be hit by a bead of melted ice trickling from the side of a glass of rum and coke as Steve sipped it. “Did he say where he went?”
“No.” The older woman sipped her water. “He said he had to answer his calling, whatever the fuck that means.”
“Ma, this is crazy.” He picked up his drink again. “Did dad leave a number or anything?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
She stabbed her fork into a chunk of chicken. “He didn’t leave a goddamn clue, Steve.”
“Did he mention what state or fucking country he was heading to?”
“I told you. All he said was that he left for ‘the wild.’” She shook her head. “So I don’t know… Montana?”
“Fill the Mouth” by Steve
If men are clouds
Then war
Is but our storm
For when loneliness
Possesses crowds
Fear swells
And blood pours
From our beaten forms
But if the Gods are clouds
Then we
Are their storm
For divinity
Will fill the mouth
And blood pours
From the meat
And corn.
To be continued...
© USA 2009, 2025
This was the eleventh part of a cross-genre short story composed in 2009 at the College of Santa Fe.
