Wednesday, October 1, 2014

poem of the day 10.01.14


queen of jesusland

she comes in
on a hot-ass tuesday in july

she’s looking for you they tell me

when i see her standing there
all sunglasses and frown and crucifix around her neck
and a brand new sexless, menopausal haircut

i know this is going
to be shit right from the start

she says, are you the manager here?

i shrug because i’m not

i have a complaint, she says

of course you do, i tell her

she says, i was in here yesterday
right before you closed but the door was locked

okay, i say. is that it?

she rolls her eyes
there were two of your girls standing in the lobby
they locked the door on me and started laughing

they’re not my girls, i tell her
they’re young woman, college women

don’t put words in my mouth, she says

i wouldn’t dream of it, i tell her

they locked the door on me, she continues
they locked the door and laughed at me

they don’t have keys to the place, i tell her

are you calling me a liar?

no, just that one’s perception of reality
often differs from another’s
plus you’re wrong, i say for good measure

you just called me a liar, she says

i shrug a second time

i want those girls right here, right now
i want you to ask them if they laughed at me

mam, they aren’t here
they have lives outside of this place

i want them written up
i want you written up for hiring such immature girls

women, i remind her

she looks around the office
scanning the joint for a sympathetic ear

i want, she starts
but she says nothing else

but we both know what she wants

she wants the ever-loving apology
she demands humility and satisfaction

she’s rich and white and lives in america
where no wrong, real or otherwise,
will stand if it’s happened to her

she wants to eat sugar and spice
while the rest of us drown in corn syrup and salt
thanking people like her for the privilege

i’ll have your job and theirs for this, she says

then she storms out of the joint
with a righteous broomstick stuck firmly up her ass

her crucifix swinging like a hammer

the queen of jesusland
long live the queen.                                          

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