Wild Geese Over Grocery Outlet, Dixie Salazar

IMG_1717Untitled, London Bellman

 

Wild Geese Over Grocery Outlet

Weeks go by with no breathable air
eyes hungry for untamed green
wild for landscapes off track and grid
shopping carts rattle and clang
waiting for high fructose, saturated
fat and whipped plastic
to fill their wide, steel bellies.

No one looks hungry here
as if they could go for weeks, live
off cellulite and spare tires
while carts stack high
with Screaming Hot Cheetos
and mutated pancakes
from some laboratory in Asia.

While fleets of silver carts
with burping wheels roll down
the aisles, starvation is setting in—
persistent gnawing that leaves us
frantic for substance, weak
for leafy greens, smoky sage
pine or flash of feathers.

But when we roll out the flapping doors
and strain against crooked wheels
our eyes lift over Arbys and Motel 6
to an arrow of wild geese
shooting through the clouds
the icy stars and day-glo vapors
hunger winging us all forward.

________________
Dixie Salazar

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