The crust is a hard dry yellow

The crust is a hard, dry yellow,

pulling back from the ham.

The kitchen is quiet and hollow.

I shouldn't be here, but I am.

They used the mustard that bites,

the kind that burns in the nose.

After twelve long, heavy nights,

this is how the ending goes.

I see where a thumb pressed in,

a hollow in the white-bread grain.

The meat is salty and thin.

I swallow the heat and the strain.