Sam’s Club – Cindy Watkins
There’s nothing sadder than
a single woman at the Sam’s Club
rollin down the aisle with 3 lbs of hot dogs
6 lbs of dinosaur chicken nuggets
3600 ft of toilet paper
and a 34 can pack of Diet Doctor Pepper—
is an obviously false statement for the man
whose wife is just now taking 10 lbs
of restaurant bacon out of the fortress
of their en-saladed mutual cart
and putting it back
the freezer door closing
with a decidedly conjugal smack.
All I have left to need
is 3 pounds of mixed greens
a tray of bakery cookies
and no body to say no.
Passing a fake fireplace
mounted ready for the holiday season
with all its false flicker,
I think,
I don’t have no damn time
for electricity that doesn’t give off any heat
But if that’s true, lord,
then why am I praying for you to send me a woman like the air in the bread aisle at midnight
all still and sweetness
and humming electric light?