Fat Man
︎︎︎ Caidan Walker
︎ Jan 5, 2026
In a room, this room, a hundred people in a room,
This room with its weight, filled with words,
I add to it—fat man—how I wish I was,
Presence spilling outward, outward with every word,
Let my grooves match the grooves in the wall and the floor,
Find a finger in the furniture, a tooth in a table,
My saliva drying on the damp seats, content, warm,
Echoes and whispers ricocheting with a dull wink and salute,
A sweetening, juice in the syllables, seeds in the silences,
Peel back the fibrous skin, hide it in our mouth,
It hides from us anyways—hides the sugar from us—
So it is time to engorge on the affiliations of sounds.
This room with its weight, filled with words,
I add to it—fat man—how I wish I was,
Presence spilling outward, outward with every word,
Let my grooves match the grooves in the wall and the floor,
Find a finger in the furniture, a tooth in a table,
My saliva drying on the damp seats, content, warm,
Echoes and whispers ricocheting with a dull wink and salute,
A sweetening, juice in the syllables, seeds in the silences,
Peel back the fibrous skin, hide it in our mouth,
It hides from us anyways—hides the sugar from us—
So it is time to engorge on the affiliations of sounds.
Caidan Walker is a poet and the editor of Lucky Lizard Journal.