Enjoying tomato soup 
for the first time at eighteen,

my brain mutes
his beefsteak-squeezing lips

and echoes only the phrase
I’ve been too stubborn
to accept:

Taste buds change.
Taste buds change. 
Taste buds change.

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Chris Kads is a queer, Arizonan writer who enjoys creating coming-of-age works with feminist and LGBTQ+ commentary. When she is not writing, Chris loves hosting the poetry challenge “Gut Punch Prompts” on her instagram @chris_kads and spending time with her loved ones. Other works of hers can be found featured in Blood+Honey Literary Magazine, SHINE International Poetry Series, Pillow Talk Magazine, Canyon Voices Literary Magazine, and the upcoming anthology If You Ever: Poems Inspired by Kim Addonizio.