For My Brother, Who Is A Tremendous Eater

I find it hard to believe, in fact,
that he knows what he is eating.

Perhaps one day I’ll switch his sandwich for a mitten
and I have no doubt, he will eat the mitten
right away.

He talks while he is eating. But,
somehow the eating also emanates
sounds that resemble talking.

Actually, the sounds he makes may very well be nonsense,
and it is simply the act of eating
that is producing these various
syllables and grunts
that he has convinced people are speech.

In any case, I respond.

I can see his mind while he is eating.
It looks like food.

When he is eating a rolled up taco, for instance,
that’s what his mind looks like: a rolled up taco.
Even if I am talking over Big Sur,
California.

It doesn’t really matter
as it all drips down
his hair-covered arms.