Dinner?

not coming
for dinner?

last year
I said no

I gave
the same answer
for the year
before

and the year
before that

and the year
before that,
was when I was soft
gave in
and ate
in regret

let's just say
it wasn't the cooking
it was the cook

and what the cook said
about the way I walked
the way I talked,
what I was wearing,
that my hair
was too
short
and how
it was all
my mother's
fault

and that
was the end of it
and I will never
regret saying
no
not this year
not the next
not ever