poem of the day 05.21.13

open toed

my wife doesn’t understand my fixation

with the grocery store girls

when we’re out and i see one of them in public

i’ll point the poor girl out to her

just like we’ve just seen a celebrity

my wife will just shake her head and ask me why i care

she thinks that i flirt with the grocery store girls

but i don’t dream of it

they are the mistresses of my canned corn and frozen meats

and i just stare at them in awe without speaking

i doubt a single one of them would recognize me

out here on the street

but today in the store they were all gathered around me

like i was a pimp

only they had no clue that i was really there

they were comparing their shoes

because the store has some rule about open toed footwear

and it seems as though each and every clerk

was breaking the rule without realizing it

a dumb rule anyway

if you ask a guy like me

so there they were showing each other their toes

with their candy-colored nail polish

and one of the girls kept telling the others

how their shoes were all breaking the rules

like a group of anarchists had settled in to check out lettuce

and stock tomato sauce

each of the girls were bummed out and embarrassed

nervous about the situation

because no wants to be a rule breaker in america

it’s not conducive to financial stability

and i wished that my wife was in the store

to finally understand the drama that i see in this place

i mean this was a big fucking deal

more than oscar worthy in its presentation

and as i grabbed my bag of groceries

i got up the nerve and said to them all

good luck with the open toed thing, ladies

my grocery girls all turned red and burst out laughing

because they realized that i’d been listening

the customer fully realized

the big tension breaker that sent them all scurrying back

to their check-out machines

mr. comic relief

stroking his fifteen minutes of fame

amongst the stars

and maybe next time my wife and i are out on the street

and i see one of those young ladies walking by

free in sandals

they’ll point and wink and maybe say hi

but if they don’t

then that’s all right too.