bulimia (n.)

from ancient greek boulīmia,
literally “ox-hunger” as an affliction–

from boȗs, “cow”

and Līmos, “starvation;
the goddess of famine.”

an amalgam double-ravenous;
sunken sallow and holy,
hollow-loined, void-bellied
but bovine, waddling still
colossal alone in the
sacred wasteland and taken
by a hunger not human,
but both animal and divine.

Mallie Holcomb holds a B.A. in English from University of North Carolina Asheville. Her poetry has appeared in Ghost City Review, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, and The Emerson Review. Lately she has been working in nonprofits, practicing yoga, and testing the veracity of “we publish both established and emerging poets.”