Member-only story
The Purity of That Moment
Poetry
Tonya was my first love
A foster-kid,
one of many
who stole — and broke — my heart
with her innocence
and purity
I took her to McDonald’s
and she was so happy
to get a Happy Meal
yet we were both 21
that’s how young she was
I felt guilt
guilt that she didn’t have parents like I did,
parents who took her to those Golden Arches
parents who patiently waited as I begged
for a drink without “the fizz”
Guilt that she loved me
for taking her there
because I was thinking
of how evil McDonald’s was
for razing the rain forest
in the Amazon Basin
to raise cattle for burgers
My heart was divided
for I knew that my anger at McDonald’s
was driven by a deeper sense of grief
Grief for the Nature it destroyed
and the indigenous communities it upended
in the name of corporate empire
