by John Grochalski

cat food, etc.

four cans of
liver and bacon pate
four cans of
seafood feast
a can of chicken and liver
turkey cut into
stringy slices
four cans of beef pate
a bag of the hard food
and one package
of ocean explosion treats
done in
tuna
fish
and crab
the beautiful arabian girl
at the register
rings me up
asks me if i have cats
as she scans the
food
i nod
say nothing
am desperate to tell her
that i don’t
live
alone.

good friday (butcher shop revisited)

alone
on the april streets
bob dylan whispering
hymnals
in my ears
all the precious
little catholics
must be
locked up in church
mourning
the continuous death
of their savior

i stop
at a street corner
searching
for something
sacred
for myself
but only find
two stray cats watching
the men
from the butcher shop
hoisting dead pigs
from the back
of a truck
onto three carts
lined with wax paper
and
grease.

John Grochalski is the author of The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch Out and Glass City. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.