Behind Me

I stand patiently in line at Giant Eagle
Behind me is a gray, withered woman
Holding nothing but earl grey tea
I gingerly let her pass in front of me.

I drive to work soon after
A blue Trailblazer flashes its left blinker
They quickly need to pass into my lane
I let them squeeze in front of me.

I stand helplessly behind the cash register
A washed out woman is craddling a whinning infant
She hands me a wad of money
But is ten cents short
I grab a dime from the tin cup and place it
in the drawer in front of me.

I take the world's negativity and place it behind me.

Cupcakes and Cigarettes

I will never forget
the magical memories
of playing My Little Pony
with my Cousin Christin
at Grandma Z's house.
The pony with the strawberry cupcake
tattooed on its left butt cheek
was my all time favorite.
The essence of vanilla and cake batter
would reflect off its plastic buns
when I scraped my nails against it.
Its hooves would trample slightly across
the cherry stained coffee table
as I rubbed my worn down Levis
against the tapered brown shag carpet.
The aroma of Basic Ultra Light Menthols
would encompass all the clean air.
It was odd when Grandma would
swat the carpenter ants
while Mr. Rogers would sing,
"Would you be my neighbor?," on PBS kids.
Now reminiscing on it,
I think the house was always infested
with ants because they were addicted
to the nicotine in Grandma's smokes.