Today Joey Chestnut won
by stuffing his face with more
than seventy hot dogs
faster than anyone
on the planet. There was a crowd
and cameras and ESPN
to capture close-ups of him
shoving hot dogs on buns
down his throat while the crowd
on Coney Island cheered him on.
This week also saw the hungry
and starving crowding by the thousands
to get one box of food or bag
of flour while men with guns said
“Hell, yeah, boy!” “I think you hit one.”
And tonight I go to bed guilty
of having a full stomach even though
I am a citizen of the country
that pays the men who fire the guns
and sends five-hundred pound bombs
to drop on a café by the sea
where people like you and me
went to escape the cruelties of the day,
and charge their phones, and watch
wave after wave break on the beach.
