just below the surface
just below the surface
95% of the people I meet
are more than a little like me;
for instance,
take Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
in this line behind me,
“Sir, do you have the time?”
Betty Crocker in one hand,
the other holds Duncan Hines,
panting he mimes,
“Would you mind?
I’m trying to decide between lemon or lime,
but this fucking cake mix
doesn’t list its glycemic index
and you expect me
to manage this
with a mind
like mine?”
I turn to face the register kid
and there is
no checkout divider
between the mad man’s groceries and mine,
“Sir is this shiv
yours
or his?”
A weapon out of its sheath,
sticks and stones break bones,
but words are George Washinton’s cherry tree:
cunning, cutting, cunty;
“Wait, how’d that get there?”
“SECURITY!”
“What?” I ask.
“I said,” he responds.
“‘Would you like to bag for me?’”
“Paper will work fine.”
But plastic is on my mind
when this imagined world
comes back to reality
with these goddamn fall allergies.
A countdown and a beep,
surrounded by end caps
and a Halloween tree,
have you seen it
or was that just an impulse buy by me;
seasons blur
as I think about what my best moments
look like to her.
Paddy Cake baker chose a life line
and called a friend,
“If you had to pick
one mix,
which one would you get?”
But, E.T. can’t phone home
when he’s forgotten where he lives;
“Would you like to sign up for a red card?”
Mr. Hyde is too loud and drowns out
the last sentence of this mumbling kid.
I ask, “Did you just say, ‘Home is where the heart is.’”
“I said, ‘5% discount is what it gives.’”
“Oh, I already have one.”
But, I know perfectionism
is no place to live.
That smell of the KFC/Pizza Hut combination
is liable to make me sick;
my luck, there’s a Starbucks,
a little caffeine and I’m touched,
The Creation of Adam by DaVinci,
“God,
do you believe?”
Outside a shopping cart
lands on the moon,
Neil Armstrong
when autumn is in bloom
not to notice
the beauty right in front of you;
What, with any luck,
we get 80, maybe 90 years,
and the triviality of time
can on occasion
become overwhelming,
but when you can see
what they see
divinity becomes a possibility;
and would you guess who
parked right beside me?
“Which cake mix did you get?”
Dr. Jekyll looks up from his car
with a lisp, “Both.”