By Italo Ferrante
I don’t want / food from my mum’s mouth / food from my plate / food from the holes
in second-hand cassocks / I’m just a flat-chested altar boy / praying that scales don’t work
in hell / hoping that men won’t knock me down / with a sneeze / the scriptures should tell
you / that starving makes your milk / paler than almond juice / sloppier than the thinnest
porridge / once I stopped eating / I also stopped craving / I started coring apples
for age-appropriate reasons / my father’s happy now / my priest doesn’t like how I look
at crucifixion scenes / he knows I’m a ribcage bragger / so he told me to make a pact
with the twin in my head / to see who shrinks the fastest
Italo Ferrante (he/him) earned a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Warwick. He is currently undertaking an MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. To date, his work has been selected for publication by Train River, Nymphs & Thugs, Dreich, Queer Zine, Flash Journal, Reinvention, Poetry Salzburg, Impossible Archetype, and Orchard Lea Press.
