CONVENIENCE STORE

Quaint as a fax machine chugging

through lunch, the door chimes.

The fluorescents shiver and twitch,

like a button on a Nintendo controller

that’s depressed and, sticky, just stays there.

In strip plazas everywhere

a procession of factories throws up.


A can of Dr. Pepper reproduces itself

deep in the aluminum vein. In the back

there are skids and skids and

skids of this shit and for years

someone just pushes them around.

I am replaceable. If you just don’t care,

I think you know where your hands should be.