drugstore people

 

i watch each moment commit suicide

jumping off the face of a clock

tick tock

 

i look at my own face in the mirror

i've become a poor imitation of myself

angry

at the act of myself

 

i think about driving off a bridge

money for the wife and kid

a little romantic attention for me

decide to drive to the drugstore

to get gatorade for the hangover instead

 

the drugstore people are there

out of work, lonely, addicted

to tv commercials

 

maybe the bridge after gatorade

 

i see her in the candy aisle

hunched over, old, young, retarded, genius

she is mumbling something to the hershey bars

 

her face is scarred by tme, tears and beatings

her hair is as thin as ice cycles on a dying christmas tree

and she is obsessively fixing a hair ribbon

that has nothing to live up to

 

the hershey bars stare her down

 

i see her again outside

as i am walking to my car

she looks at me and mumbles

god bless you

god bless you

 

tugs on the hair ribbon and moves to the next

 

car

 

i drive home

crack the gatorade

light a smoke

count the days until

i can get my pain pill

script refilled