checkstand nine

checkstand nine

it is, by what standards?
an ordinary day

except a rainbow is painting
the 5:17 sky as shopping carts
slosh through puddles, red cars
replacing grey ones in parking
lot time-lapse slots

and i am no different with my
list, will walk the aisles, pick
up the birdseed again, some milk

checkstand nine's light is off
but she accepts me anyway
this clerk named june

and for five minutes we talk
of birds in the morning and of
prayer, a form of which we are doing now
as she bags up my seed

and surrounded as i have been by
people all day suddenly feel
less alone
and her as well

it is, by what standards?
a holy day

ls 9.17.19