notes on empathy and
small kindnesses
with the liquor store
clerk
he says, man,
you look like shit
kid, that’s why i come in here, i tell him
then i put the wine and whiskey up on the counter
how was work? he asks
three dozen kids screaming and destroying
and someone pissed all over the bathroom floor
i got it bad here too, he says
had to throw some drunk out for shitting himself
i’m on six days this week, i tell him
try doing seven
i’d murder someone with a dull knife
i want to, he says
bagging my bottles and taking my twenty
but what can you do?
we just can’t get it right, i tell him
and we seem like such smart guys, he says
we’re gods
only no one knows it yet
he gives me back fifty cents and i toss it in the tip jar
thanks, man, he says
the least i can do, i say
i take my bag
the kid has double bagged the booze for me
because last time i tripped and almost smashed everything
it means a lot to me that he remembered
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