The Grocer - Variation One

poem by Zachary Guerra

---

content/trigger warning: discussions of racism and parental illness

---

The old man on the floor dropped

While dragging your grocery list

Sixty something years ago

He was going to be like on

Star-Trek

A real scientist.

But then they didn’t let

Black kids into the bowling league

So that was out of the picture.

He said.

When we confided in each other

Somewhere along aisle 9

Or maybe 13

Yup, real hard to take care of your

Parents like that. Losing their memory like that.

Real hard to take

Care of anybody like that