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jon-tobiasPoems
He was working the register at Save-a-Lot foods The line slowly building towards the end of the store I saw it In the veins that stood out on the tip of his nose In his white hair pushed back despite the receding hair line In the sag of his lower lip Making his jowls jiggle as he turned his head I saw how his lower lip longed for the chewing tobacco it used to hold I stood in line holding a cart full of lonely And I wanted to tell him “You look like the kind of man who’s only ever made daughters And your hands Are too calloused for taking money and bagging groceries I know you How the top of your gut is tight from the hunger Of not having eaten yet You were never meant for this Man You were never meant to work like this Humbled by the heartache caused by a dime We got the same change clangin’ in our pockets Got the same sorrow For not having made enough people happy I know the minute the beer is full someone will take more And the minute you sit down And rub your calloused fingertips across your eyes The phone will ring Man I know it wasn’t your fault When the lady got mad that the prices were wrong The prices are always wrong I know You’ve been here too long We both have been here too long When my hair is grey Today’s change will still ring off the countertops And I'm sorry For everything” But I didn’t say any of that I said Hi I did not use his name Because I know how condescending it really sounds to do that It was Patrick by the way I gave him a twenty He gave me a penny It clanged in my pocket like the last bell on a broken wind chime And then I said Thanks Man And left
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Jun 28, 2011
Jun 28, 2011 at 1:11 PM UTC
The Change in Both of our Pockets
He was working the register at Save-a-Lot foods The line slowly building towards the end of the store I saw it In the veins that stood out on the tip of his nose In his white hair pushed back despite the receding hair line In the sag of his lower lip Making his jowls jiggle as he turned his head I saw how his lower lip longed for the chewing tobacco it used to hold I stood in line holding a cart full of lonely And I wanted to tell him “You look like the kind of man who’s only ever made daughters And your hands Are too calloused for taking money and bagging groceries I know you How the top of your gut is tight from the hunger Of not having eaten yet You were never meant for this Man You were never meant to work like this Humbled by the heartache caused by a dime We got the same change clangin’ in our pockets Got the same sorrow For not having made enough people happy I know the minute the beer is full someone will take more And the minute you sit down And rub your calloused fingertips across your eyes The phone will ring Man I know it wasn’t your fault When the lady got mad that the prices were wrong The prices are always wrong I know You’ve been here too long We both have been here too long When my hair is grey Today’s change will still ring off the countertops And I'm sorry For everything” But I didn’t say any of that I said Hi I did not use his name Because I know how condescending it really sounds to do that It was Patrick by the way I gave him a twenty He gave me a penny It clanged in my pocket like the last bell on a broken wind chime And then I said Thanks Man And left
jon-tobias
Written by
jon-tobias
American
Jun 28, 2011
Jun 28, 2011 at 1:11 PM UTC
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