Man Outside a Store by Peter Mladinic

 

Image | Timur Webber

Man Outside a Store

I slip him 3 folded ones, take the thanks

in his glazed eyes home,

to sit at a table. He might offer a name,

steal the flat screen, the china.

I might ask if the sound of rain on a roof

brings to mind a mother’s face.

He has hands to wash cars and dishes.

Is my 3 abetting a man kicked by

the system? We trade lives. He pulls away

in my Jeep Wrangler. In an alley

behind, housed the Tiger Rose pint I uncap stays in its paper sack as I drink it down.

This poem is from Peter's book Files of Information. 

© Peter Mladinic

Peter Mladinic

Peter Mladinic's most recent book of poems, Maiden Rock, is available from Uncollected Press. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, United States.

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