They give them away at the gym,
say they’re just five calories,
“you’ve earned it.”
Just five calories? Just?

They don’t understand.
Those Tootsie Rolls aren’t an inch,
they’re massive logs
in cattle troughs

on either end of the front desk.
They don’t sit silently,
a quiet invitation
but bellow, “Free sugar!
Get your fix here!
Trigger your addiction now!!”

The Tootsie Roll buckets.
They can be shrunk down to size
if you’re working your program,
in touch with your needs
and know that those five calories
aren’t worth the misery they would
invoke.