POEM - Cupcake Ritual

The ragged paper wrapper

Dejectedly resting in my hand

Once embraced

In a protective shield

A diminutive cake

Delicious and inviting

This wrapper

That I hold a little too long

Carried the contents

From batter to bake

Caressed and carried

In a meaningful shared experience

I hold this wrapper

Gently in my cupping grasp

Waiting for that moment

When other eyes are distracted

When I invert the wrapper

Inside out

Greedily and stealthily

Popping it in my mouth

I chew the wrapper

Squeezing the last sweet essence

The delectable remnants

Of a once present cupcake

That now is no longer

My eyelids have wandered shut

As I savor and indulge

But I can sense other eyes

I was not as careful as I thought

The wrapper sits motionless

Mid chew

As I flounder for an explanation

She speaks first

In a conspiratorial whisper

                “I’m glad to see

                                I’m not the only one”

She says with a smile

Revealing in her light clutch

An inverted wrapper of her own

Joyfully she joins

In the sweet ritual