adam's apple - Poem

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 26, 2001 by Lou Ella Hickman

   this poisoned bite
   swallowed whole
   will go no farther down

   with such a bitter tang
   it stuck

   now lodged
   I strangle

   I wait and gag
      and wait ...

        and wait
      for its seed to sprout

        to green
      then to wood become
   the Friday of my despair

--Sr. Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS Corpus Christi, Texas