Meghan Woodward

Sugared tongue to cover
the bleak words, glances
enough sour candy and now
I’m numb to the walls moving
in and my heart moving out;

Salted lips savoring sadness
the cruelty, harsh reality
cuddled chip stacks snuggle
loneliness, spooning my
growing ass and dwindling will;

Chocolate dripped fingers frozen,
the destruction, brutality
darkened truffles replace
pleasure, sensation
coating me with love no longer here.

Meghan Woodward is a poet and app developer who lives in Seattle, Washington. She has not been published in 20 years (since college) and is prolifically sharing her work (though not this piece) on Bluesky.

This poem appeared in What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On — Winter 2026, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project. We’ll be featuring each poem from the collection individually in the weeks ahead. You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.