“What Do I Owe”
Juanita Rey
Artist Statement: If I am marginalized, my artistic goal is to come in from those margins.
You pay the bill.
So what do I owe?
You snatch the slip
from the waiter’s hands,
place it face-down on the table
with your credit card on top.
So how do I pay my share?
Is a house salad
the equivalent of one undone top button?
Does a medium well steak
cost the arm and the leg
that come with my body?
And what of the drinks?
My head is light.
Must my willpower be also?
As we leave,
you help me with my coat.
Like your hands,
it fits warmly around my shoulders.
Undressing begins
with the dressing.
Juanita Rey is a Dominican poet who has been in Canada for five years. Her work has been published in Pennsylvania English, Opiate Journal, Petrichor Machine and Porter Gulch Review.