Young women give me back my heart
We were both walking down the aisle
(In a supermarket not a church)
I caught a glimpse of that sweet smile
Those brown eyes and black hair
I didn’t mean to stare
(but it was a volatile heart moment)
With you and me there
Passion spreads like a Molotov cocktail
Fires spread across my heart
The face of Venus, the space between us
Closes as I get closer to your grocery cart
I drop a note and get your attention
And say “Excuse me is this yours Miss”
On down the aisle and looking back at each other
(We are in a moment like this)
The note reads:
I am so glad you took my note
I wasn’t sure how to get it through
I am glad (though spontaneously)
(As summer winds gust) to have met you
I’m taking too long in here.
This cart I am trying to steer.
Is squealing around corners constantly.
There’s nothing except throwing groceries in endlessly.
The wet floor sign is laughing too hard.
I still need to buy a thank you card.
But words don’t exist in the confines of the store.
Just lines and scribbles galore!
Ribbons streaming from nowhere.
Like sadness from a tearful pear.
I could leave this store at any time.
But not without an angry lime.
Not without doing something odd.
Like catching bags of chips with a fishing rod.
Eating a pastry from a display.
Jumping around to avoid the fray.
I’m taking too long in this place.
Where I can feel the freezer section’s embrace.
The cold is not the only thing in me.
I wish everything was free.
Free like a smiling flower in the floral department.
Which is beautiful despite dismemberment.
I wish I was free too…
In this store with too many tears undue.
Five items in my shopping cart. Pull into
the line for fifteen items or less. One customer
ahead of me. Middle-aged woman with twenty items
arguing with the clerk. I have an appointment in half an hour.
“Lady, you have too many items!” If looks could kill, she’d be dead.
I look to my right
And there’s a bin of stuffed animals just like the one you bought me
I look to my left
And there’s your favorite flavor of ice cream
I look down
And I see your Nebraska sweatshirt I couldn’t let them throw away
So I think maybe
Just maybe
And I look up.
But there's no trace of you in the sky
Just the harsh grocery store lights
Reflecting off the tears streaming down my face.
She went searching for peace at the grocery store.
Those shelves were all empty, her people at war.
There were loaves of loss and heartbreak over by the bread.
"We have a sale on hatred," the store manager said.
She found boxes of empathy mixed in with the teas and
told the young cashier, "I'll take two boxes please."
She went searching for peace at the grocery store.
Those shelves were all empty, her people at war.
each day we walk, slowly and leisurely, through our neighborhood
enjoying the sights of houses, purple, blue, yellow
gardens started and forgotten, left fallow for the fall,
to the grocery store.
as we near the destination, a man on the corner is yelling and dancing
paying no attention to us or anyone, a sign near his feet saying
“bread, please. just one loaf to keep me going. it’s the little things”
we add another item to our list.
we make the rounds, crossing off the list, ending with a soft loaf of wheat.
when we exit the store he’s still dancing. we take the loaf out of our bags and
hand it to him. he unties the bag and reaches in for three pieces and sniffs.
“it’s perfect”. he crushes the pieces in his hands, forming little balls
of grain. shock on our faces, bread flying at our heads, we run. he’s laughing
and i turn around to see him smiling big. it feels good making someone happy.
He took up a lot of space
for a skinny guy.
Arms shooting out from his pits,
grabbing this and that.
Neck jutting left and right
and all the time
occupying the middle of the aisle.
Being older and fatter,
I paused my shopping cart,
waited
pretended I didn't want
to shove his ass into
the canned peas.
I try to pass the powdered donuts
They jump off the display
landing happily in my grocery cart.
I am next met by a shelf full of potato chips.
Lays – my favorite brand.
They throw themselves at my face.
I catch a bag in midair.
What kind of grocery store is this? I wonder.
Marie Callender’s lemon meringue pie laughs
and begins chasing after me.
I am parked in front of a store
There is hamburger inside with my man
He asked if I wanted to come in.
Not on your life.
I have already spent fifty dollars today
On doggy treats at the dollar store
The daily limit I allow myself to spend
Here he comes now
With a giant sack
Full of goodies
He never limits himself
Written by Gail R DeBole
on May 30, 2020
(A Song)
Trying to stay alive at the grocery store.
Trying to safely get to aisle four.
You avoiding me.
Me avoiding you.
Trying to get to aisle four.
Trying to get
Trying to get
Trying to get
To aisle four.
Trying to stay
Trying to stay
Trying to stay
Alive in the grocery store.
Finally found my food
Not in aisle four.
Now I have to pay
And safely walk to the door.
Finally found my food
Finally found my food
Finally found my food
In the grocery store.
Now I have to pay
Now I have to pay
Now I have to pay
And get out through the door.
You avoiding me.
Me avoiding you.
The COVID-19 foe
Has us acting
All confused.
What a powerful foe!
Back and forth we go.
Trying to avoid the virus
Wherever we go.
Trying to stay alive
Trying to stay alive
Trying to stay alive
Wherever we go!
He took up a lot of space
for a skinny guy.
Arms shooting out from his pits,
grabbing this and that.
Neck jutting left and right
and all the time
occupying the middle of the aisle.
Being older and fatter,
I paused my shopping cart,
waited
pretended I didn't want
to shove his ass into
the canned peas.
How're you doing?
I'm doing fine
Everything good?
Knock on wood
What's new?
Not much
Take care
Stay in touch
How's business?
Never better
Come back soon
It'll be my pleasure
What's going on?
Same old stuff
How are things?
Good enough
How're the kids?
A lot of fun
Going so soon?
Gotta run
See you later
Have a nice day...
Thanks for shopping
~ Don't forget to pay!
If we don’t have time for the supermarket,
there’s a store on the corner for what we can get.
For years, it has stood.
The quality and service are good.
We get what we need and more
at the CORNER GROCERY STORE.
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