Good girl. You identified your need yourself

My self-identified need, sir:

I need this food, the food from the food bank.

I will walk right in.

It’s fine to ask.

It’s fine to tell myself to ask.

Need is life—the permission doesn’t allow us to fix it.

I have identified the fissures in what passes for safety:

I must eat food until I’m dead and I need

some other frivolous thing.

I could turn the invitation to eat over and over

in my hands, finding my name

but searching for it anyway.