Landfill
After El Anatsui’s “Hovor”

El, I’m eating white rice for lunch

and it’s in a styrofoam container
which I will throw out as soon
as I’ve finished eating.

I’m eating it with a can of diet coke.
It’s a tall can, as if it were something more
than a diet cola, as if it were something
that could make me dance.

I know I shouldn’t drink it, El.
I know that while I think of you,
imagine myself floating on an ocean
of gold, a stage play of waves.

—Kristin Maffei

Kristin Maffei is a New England-based poet and copywriter. You can read more of her work at her website.