She eats her spaghetti

with a fork like a shovel,

ignoring the etiquette lessons

from her mother so many years ago.

You can tell her there’s

tomato sauce staining

her mouth like lipstick

smeared from the night before,

but she’ll just laugh

and wipe it away with her sleeve

when she’s finished.

You would think

such a messy eater would

leave bits of her meal

all over the table

but when she’s done,

there’s no trace of

her haphazard manners

and she disappears

again.