The one vegetable I hate with a passion is...

Carrots.

FYI: There's no metaphor in here. So if you're looking for one, you may as well stop reading.

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My hatred of carrots began
in middle school.
Those hard, raw sticks accounted
for 1/4 of my brown bag lunch.

Tiny knobs in plastic bags,
I threw those babies
straight in the bin.
Only 3/4 left.
I was always a hungry child.

Sometimes I debated eating the carrots
just to stop the growling, but
everytime I took a bite,
I felt like my teeth were breaking
on hard orange rocks.

If I forgot to throw the carrots away,
they would decompose during 5th period
at the bottom of my backpack.
Carrots rot so quickly.
White and squishy with
veined markings.

Sometimes I'd amass
several bags of carrots
in my backpack over a couple days,
which is more gross than it sounds.
Especially for someone who hates carrots.
I'd get home before my parents,
and cover the carrot bags with yesterday's garbage.

Cooked carrots are better, but
still kind of gross.
Unless they are in some sort of stew.
I bought one recently,
but it rotted within a day,
of course.

This has happened multiple times
and I continue to buy them,
let them rot,
and discard.