Two Poems

Two Poems Maria Zoccola (bio) helen of troy folds laundry in a dim room i don't know if you have ever started growingaway from yourself. a ribbed shuck peeled down,inch by inch, from the gold. shadows on the dirt:corn bending toward the harvester, leaning forward in relief. [End Page 597] helen of troy cranks the volume on "like a prayer" in the ballet studio parking lot listen, madonna, he's worth it like a box of hot krispy kremes is worth it,six glazed cavity grenades pounded in the eight minutes it takes the kidto finish gabbing with her dance-class kill squad and sling her wayinto my passenger seat and no she won't take a jam-filled anythingbecause her plié overlord says it's time to lose the babyfat, babygirl,so that's the rest of the box forsworn to the back bench while isticky-finger steer my way home unzipping my attention betweenthe road tonight's dinner my ingrown toenail gas prices at the texacohow many weeks it's been since my last period and the monosyllabicgossip from the kid on lila elise's mama who drank too much andhad to go to a special home in nashville so when i park and go insideand start chopping onions for the pan of hot oil i guess i've forgottenall about the crate of sugar sitting in the station wagon until three dayslater when i pop open the side door to slide in some groceries andscream because that's more ants than i've ever seen in my entiregod-loving life undulating across the seat covers in jet black tv staticto pick up each crumb of sweetness and grind it into the corners and ripsand secret places so deep my whole life's gonna be ants and chocolatewhenever folks look at my face they're gonna see the smearof a meal i ate when i was starving that was better in the gut thanlet's say battery acid or the dead skin around my own manicurebut did not in the end make my belly stop howling did not in the end keep the car in the drive. [End Page 598] Maria Zoccola Maria Zoccola is the author of Helen of Troy, 1993 (Scribner 2025). She has writing degrees from Emory University and Falmouth University. Her work has previously appeared in Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, the Iowa Review, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere. She lives in Memphis. Copyright © 2023 The University of the South