Amanda Joshua
Oat Milk
You pretend you like oat milk
I think you like how it sounds coming out of your mouth
The way adults are supposed to sound
So I pretend I don’t know you are pretending
I avert my eyes very politely while you shudder
The watery moustache from your upper lip
‘It’s just better for the environment’ you tell me
‘An acquired taste’
Personally I think you’re milking this whole do-gooder thing harder
than the damned oats
And what the hell is the point of talking yourself
into liking something you don’t?
But then you peek at me swiftly
Underaged darling in a liquor store
(Are you buying my bullshit right now?)
I pay you with a nod and
your eyes crinkle gleefully in at the corners
You have never looked more like a child
Or more beautiful
I analyse my oat milk-less coffee some more
You’re an easy read
Easier still to love
So I accept a sip because you are the one offering it
and wait on you to acquire a taste for me
Amanda Joshua is a Law and English Lit student. Most of her deep-seated insecurity stems from not being able to make it across the monkey bars as a child (but she is working on it).