Merry Christmas, they said
Dec 24.
Half hour to closing time.
The setting sun crosses the produce section.
My shopping cart full of turkeys and potatoes
Christmas-colored light bulbs, pies and tomatoes
okra, calamari, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos,
I celebrate; I am finished shopping.
I kick the front of the cart, it spins
in a perfect circle; I twirl likewise,
bow to the fruit and vegetable stands,
and snap my fingers over my head.
“Wow, what flair!” says someone behind me, with a little boy.
“I used to be a bullfighter.” I say. The boy’s eyes pop.
“I see!” says the woman. She holds a bottle of wine,
bananas, bread, cold cuts, one Twinkie, and
a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD
in a basket in her hand.
She says, “ … well, bye ... ” and starts off,
bus schedules in her other hand.
I spin again, and say, “Wanna come over? To our house?”
The boy’s eyes pop again!
