fig newtons? really?

growing up, i never once 

heard a kid,

or an adult

request a fig newton cookie.

never.

and yet, somehow there

always seemed

to be a bag of them

around the house.

we never questioned our

parents as to who the hell

Newton was,

was that the same guy who

discovered gravity? 

He made cookies too? dang.

anyway,

you noticed them

once the good cookies

were gone.

the oreos, the chocolate chips,

even the lame

vanilla wafers were devoured

before the fig newtons.

but there they were

in the open  bag, three rows

of  mushy

crumbly squares holding

a glob of semi hardened

fig guts.

you'd look at one and grimace

as you put it into

your mouth, biting down

on God knows what,

reaching for the milk

to quickly wash the taste away.