raspberries

i order a raspberry and white chocolate muffin
purely for the raspberries

she orders a caramel slice
i take note of this and am unimpressed

she is older and much more married than I am
which is fine and unfortunate respectively

how is your family
how are your studies
how is your poetry coming along
there are not enough raspberries in this muffin

i break bits off
and put them in my mouth
and search for berries with my tongue
but all I’m getting is white chocolate bits
and they’re too too sickly sweet

she says:
so i read your poem about the raspberry muffin
you should have ordered raspberries straight up
if you only wanted raspberries

i say:
i guess unrefined sugar tastes better
after you’ve pretended to like the refined stuff for a while

the raspberries are at the bottom of the muffin
wet and tart here we go here we go
i devour them in the unrefined manner of an animal
the juice runs down my chin like blood

 

Caitlin McGregor studies creative writing at the University of Melbourne. She mostly writes poetry, short fiction and memoir, and has work published or forthcoming in The Lifted Brow, Scum, Talking Soup and Judy’s Punch. You can find her on twitter at @caitlinmcgregor.