Born a Crime

chicken bone and getting out every
last bit of marrow inside. We didn’t
eat chickens. We obliterated them.
Our family was an archaeologist’s
nightmare. We left no bones
behind. When we were done with a
chicken there was nothing left but
the head. Sometimes the only meat
we had was a packaged meat you
could buy at the butcher called
“sawdust.” It was literally the dust
of the meat, the bits that fell off the
cuts being packaged for the shop,
the bits of fat and whatever’s left.
They’d sweep it up and put it into
bags. It was meant for dogs, but my
mom bought it for us. There were