Dwelling along the river town with some like minded bohemians, dreamers and little fish with grand hopes I find human behavior curious

Regarding various out-of-town gadabout’s minor cruelty and indifference to the size of ponds they come to splash about in disredarding efforts of hospitality slightly shocking

Patience is generally not my virtue

but here among the kindly locals

standing in queue at the local market, shifting from leg to leg

doesn’t ever really hassle me in this land of revolving open doors

Calmly staying in the moment watching people and keeping my cool

when most submit tenaciously puffing themselves up

to the me, me, me, me-ness

of this crazy world now-ness

clamoring to claim the day their own huffing

Mine mine mine

Me me me

Gimme gimme gimme

Now, now, now

wielding steady breaths instead I surrender to the serenity that can be found in the

How it is

There it is

What it is

And just breathe

Relating to the cashier

Her mundane day after day after day

Along with the callous contact from others

Their confusion between service and servitude

As if she is but a shadow

Rendering her a cash cow, if you will

Dismissing her humanity for sake of their rush-rush-rushing

Her eyes hold a certain bored sadness now

Resigning to her condition once vibrant

Fathoms from her ballerina princess dreams

Complacent now talking of paper or plastic

Hindering her true calling of dancing on a stage

Musing of what life she may endure after closing

Perhaps a mother of three with one in her future

Wondering where the shoes will come from

Or maybe an ex-con just trying to

Make it out of the game……….barely

Waiting on you while during your search for exact change

She asks if you found everything alright as the manager

Hovers near by with keys and a quasi dead smile

Knowing not of her true calling during the night after the day-to-day

Wielding a clipboard with lunch breaks and sales ploys

Maybe her days off are spent as an aspiring artist

Reconstructing her life out of the boxes

From long lost loves’ letters

Rekindling her soul inspiring a fire

Moving the dust bunnies to the back burner for now

Until just yesterday it seemed

She wandered unfettered

Alive then fate thrust her into the first job she could find

And damn, she wishes it were different

Understanding that this her reality now

We stand en masse with whine and complaints

Tapping our heels and staring at our watches

Chattering on our cellphones without consideration

Declaring: This Is Long ENOUGH

Why don’t they open up another checkstand for us to stand???

Easily overlooking the humanity of this human before us

We cannot ever see her broken heart

When time is of our essence

And she is of no real concern save giving us change and the proper receipt

Each of us should really

Decidely

Slow

The

Fuck

Down

Let us for a moment with benefit of no doubt

Imagine it were you in her uncomfortable shoes

Clamoring for a life just this side of existing

Beyond basically surviving, yearning to connect

Longing for a life beyond making change and small talk

Possibly, to truly have a happy day, reach out a bit

Stand calmly in line gratefully knowing you’re closer to out the door than she

Take time out of your way and look in her eyes

Empathize with her involuntary human bondage

Ask that clerk, “So, how is your day? Really?” waiting for her answer

You may even not only really brighten her day, but yours

Really.