After walking, I had to learn how to eat
Because they kept a tube in me while I was unconscious
And after a while it became time for me to eat again
And I thought,
I don’t need to eat
I haven’t been eating this entire time in here
Eating is really overrated, what do I need it for
So when they told me I could eat
I didn’t.
They offered breakfast and I told them no.
They offered lunch and I told them no.
And by the time dinner came along
my stomach was making more noise than I was
I think it started a language of its own
So being a vegetarian I got an egg sandwich
and then I was faced with this task I didn’t know how to undertake.
I had to rationalize it to myself.
You’ve eaten before, I told myself, you can do it again.
I know it seems foreign to you, but you can do it.
Put some food on the fork, put it in your mouth, remove the fork, start chewing, and then just swallow it. You can do this. I had to talk myself through every step, the first bite was the strangest thing to me, I ate only half of the food,
But I did it.
I know that once I got used to eating I ate ravenously, but
The next morning they offered food and I ate an egg sandwich again and I had to tell myself,
You did this yesterday, Janet.
I had to goad myself into eating again.