"Sustainable", "Did You Know?" & "Loop" by Allison Whittenberg

Sustainable

eating eggshells 

for calcium –

crushed to mush, 

watered down 

is this the future,

we pray for?

wanting not to waste 

as waste fills our needs

Did you know?

Eggshells are painted white 

for uniformity? 

for aesthetics? 

for supremacy! 

(so even ask the produce section at Acme is against diversity)

Loop

in your life, 

you will have something that you cherish 

and you will nurture it, 

tend to it, 

love it, 

call it beautiful 

because you made it beautiful 

that’s human nature 

in that same life, 

some people will come along 

destroy what you made, 

rip it, 

tear it, 

crush it, 

stomp on it, 

mar it, 

turn it ugly… 

because that’s human nature

Allison Whittenberg's novels are Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine, Life is Fine, Tutored (Random House 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010). Her work has appeared inColumbia Review, Feminist Studies,J Journal, and New Orleans Review. She is the author of the full-length short story collection, Carnival of Reality (Loyola University Press, 2022). Whittenberg is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee.