Take a sip / let’s say bitter acknowledges the roots of my tongue / stepping over my taste buds / tingling over milky sweet dirt / flushed adrenaline like water and soiled hands // let's say milk mixes with my apple-strided heart / fill in the VSD and soften the calluses / can an apple regrow? A fruit is it not? / fragilely mush, reverting rot // let’s say it cradles the blood in my veins / melting my celiac-bound leukocytes / none fonder for the umber / and I will cry / rid me caffeinated tears / with no other pool of puddle. / this bitter. hugs me afloat