2020 Oldenburg Writing Contest honorable mention recipient
Of French Chocolates by Ellen Bass

Eat more protein
She says 
as you’re crumpled 
on the dusty carpet 

Go to the gym
he suggests
as you hang your head
in the hospital waiting room

Just turn to God
they order
as you stand over
the casket of your dead mother

I don’t mean to discourage you from
running five miles each day or from
drinking organic protein shakes or from
giving your Sunday mornings to the Lord

But to those who have stomach aches 
and trembling hands daily as we  
worry about the things they cannot control
and to those who have had our universe
forever altered by an ended heartbeat 

may you never be told
to put the ice cream down
as if the solution
is waiting for you at the gym
or in the sanctuary
of your hometown church

May your friends shut up 
about the things they don’t understand
May they buy you more ice cream
and take you water skiing because 
they know that’s your favorite