Down At The Ghetto Grocery Store

by Meredith James

 

Sex is everywhere,

On display and overstocked.

A pregnant teenager, stuffed into neon stretch fabrics,

Looks like a fat butterfly.

She sobs into the pay phone receiver

To her estranged boyfriend about future child support.

Children hurriedly squeeze through the door.

The dodge the playful swats to the leg by the old man,

Who sits next to the candy aisle

Gumming pears and dreaming of rape.

The woman with the Virginia state road map across her eyes

Approaches the counter

With a package of No-Doze and a box of Trojans.

A young man with a buzzcut appears from out of aisle 8

And quickly whisks her out the door.

Outside, two people at the gas pumps stare at one another,

Then back at the ground,

Each clutches his nozzle tighter

And scoot Mormon pamphlets and cigarette butts with their feet.

The smell of gas makes them dizzy and light.

Their gaze meets once more,

And simultaneously they smile.

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