at walgreens



waiting,

standing opposite chocolate laxatives and baby wipes,
 
bladder control pads and acne scrubs,
 
mouthwashes and home perm kits,

I wait.

I wait to pick up a drug of some generic name which

is suppose to make me feel less anxious

about our civilization being on the edge

of global nuclear annihilation.

Waiting also, at the very end of the line, an elderly lady,

a dromedary with hair like corkscrew pasta,  

hollers, out of nowhere,

and to no one in particular:

"I'm half-blind and half-deaf but fully insured."

We are waiting,

both of us are waiting,

together,  

for a prescription or for annihilation.

whichever comes first.

About this poem

This is a captured micro-moment I experienced and this woman said what she said and it struck me that we're both in the same situation even though we are entirely different people.

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Written on May 01, 2022

Submitted by tgmolitor on June 10, 2022

Modified on March 29, 2023

42 sec read
52

Quick analysis:

Scheme A A X X X X B X X X X X C C B X
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 660
Words 141
Stanzas 16
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

t. g. molitor

Tom lives in Corrales, New Mexico where he searches the high-desert night sky every night for poetic inspiration. more…

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    "at walgreens" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/131350/at-walgreens>.

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