took a trip to the store today

bought fried chicken, shrimp,
potato wedges, Hawaiian rolls,
macaroni salad and coleslaw

a women was sampling
free Christmas *****
at a booth near me.

I had no intentions to divulge
as I walked past without
saying anything

but she offered
(not that she wanted to but
because it was her job)

I stopped and said “sure”

she gave me a grotesque look,

a look I’m often familiar with,

like I was human garbage

she handed me the *****
in a tiny shot glass as our
hands accidentally touched

she was hiding it well but you
could tell she wanted to dip
her hands in an acid vat after
touching me

I lifted up the drink til it was eye level
and she proceeded to tell me all the
unimportant facts about the drink and
how it was on sale and so forth,
I started to tune her out....

for that split moment,
as quick as the blink of an eye,
I had a realization that
your first job is
your first experience
and wake up call to how
doltish and bias and cruel
the world can be,
myself included.

I set down the drink down on the table
and walked off without saying a word,

I could barely hear her whisper under
her breath, “******* ***”

who am I to judge,
she had every right to judge me,
I did look like a ***

but I don’t want to look
like a million bucks,

just a well polished
five dollar bill
should suffice

I got home and poured myself that
drink I didn’t have at the store and
also ate the fried chicken, shrimp,
potato wedges, Hawaiian rolls,
macaroni salad and
even the coleslaw too.

what can I say?

every hand you’ve
ever shook has had
a **** in it.