I insert the coins
into the money slot.
Then, the small pack
of soda crackers
that is first in line
gets betrayed
by its comrade
immediately behind:
The latter
pushes the former
off the edge,
and it plummets
helplessly
until it lands
smack on the floor
of the take-out port,
where I pick it up
not to administer
first aid
but to peel it open
and end its misery
by consuming
its contents.
Karlo Sevilla’s poems appear in various literary platforms, and one of them is nominated by Ariel Chart for the 2018 Best of the Net Anthology. A runner-up in Submittable’s 2018 National Poetry Month contest, he currently studies creative writing in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. His poetry collection, “Metro Manila Mammal,” was published by Soma Publishing in May, 2018.
