'Drowning Crumbs'

You have a crumb at the corner of your mouth,
it fascinates me, my eyes are mesmerised by this sight.
Isn’t it strange how watching someone eat
can either fill you with lust
or just plain disgust.
As you speak the crumb moves up and down,
I’m irrepressibly drawn to it
it’s caught in that crevice right at the corner of your mouth.
You masticate upon a bread roll
your jaws working inside your cheeks.
A slurp of wine that leaves a purplish stain on your upper lip
and still that crumb blinks at me.
Any minute now, your eyes shall begin to droop
your shoulders sag, then stoop
face down into the minestrone
with perhaps a crouton up your right nostril
just to give that last little edge to death.


Emma