Rita Feinstein
​

After I Stopped Eating

Holly the collie was rescued
from the churchyard gully

she’d been trapped in
for nearly a month, her eyes

blind behind infected crust,
her stomach a pouch

drawn shut against hunger,
half her weight

starved off her ribs.
When they lifted her out,

her bones jangled like
the pipes of a windchime.

Look what you’ve done
to yourself,

the vet cooed, opening
her eyes’ grimy caskets.

They slopped meaty paste
in her dish, but Holly

couldn’t swallow--
even the taste hurt her.

They set her on the scale
but her claws slipped away

from the stainless steel,
and she felt herself falling

back to the skintight gully
that had held her so safely

and for so long.

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A graduate of Oregon State University's MFA program, Rita Feinstein is based in Washington, DC, where she teaches creative writing to kids and teens. She is the author of two poetry collections, LIFE ON DODGE and EVERYTHING IS REAL, both from Brain Mill Press, and a young adult novel forthcoming from Page Street. Her stories and poems have appeared in Permafrost, Grist, and Willow Springs, among other publications, and have been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. She lives with her husband, who is a lawyer, and her dog, who is not.