Explanation

NSF paid the bills
set the budget
and made the rules.
For food service no portion control
$4.26 per person per day rations cost
Overs and unders
for every steak and lobster dinner
three of chilli macaroni
chicken fricassee
or beef cubes.

Solution.
five 6-day cycles
Sunday fixed menu.
Continental breakfast.
Brunch.
Steak and lobster.

Patrons learned which meals to be early
and those to be avoided.
Shrimp
taken by the shovelful
never enough
we learn to hide on shrimp day.

Ray, mess watch captain
220 lbs
nudging 6 feet
squat and black.

One supper
Shrimp has been depleted with 30 minutes left
from the serving line like a lion bellowing conjugal rights
“ hey man where’s the shrimp at ”
before I can offer excuse or apology
Ray brick outhouses forward
“where’s the shrimp at.. where’s the shrimp at..
all them other godammnedgreedyassedmofuckers ate it.
that’s where it’s at.”
Got that.

For the back story click Backstage