She wore a long, plain dress to the office today,
and a light green sweater
that matched her perfect eyes…
Irresistible in her girlish things
she has me thinking about holding her again,
which is a mistake
because she’s wearing those pretty clothes for someone else.
For some other guy
who tonight,
right about the time I’m broke down and crying into my
pillow,
will be helping her take that dress off.
WORKING RETAIL
This is not the stuff
of orphans
in refugee camps,
w/ bloated bellies full of flies...
But a kindred suffering
played in a minor key,
damned miserable all the same.
Alan Spears lives in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in MUSEings, Potomac Review, Lit Wit, The Frantic Egg, The Beltway Poetry Series, and Gargoyle. In 1993, he edited FAST TALK, FULL VOLUME: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY (Gut Punch Press).
