post-wine katzenjammer
only i’m back
in the booze store again
buying another two magnum bottles
and a plastic jug of vodka to boot
and the guys who work there
are huddled around the cash register talking
ignoring me and not taking my money
i’ve become a fixture here like the floor
that are talking about katarina
and why she quit so suddenly
conflicted with college
couldn’t hack retail
she took up nannying, one of them says
i wish she’d nanny me!
and they all laugh
and make sex noises
and somewhere in america
katarina’s ears are ringing
to the dull hum of the patriarchal void
as i stand there with the two wine bottles
the jug of vodka
and a crumpled, miserable jackson in my hand
my hangover like the booze store’s mascot
an afterthought
to their sexism
and fine-tooled misogyny.
Outside the Liquor Store -- Arthur Robins
