poem of the day 09.18.13

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