Contributor Series 8: Feast and Famine
Lament for the #6
By Grace Burns
Tucked under towering trees
on the side of a lonely road
far removed from rush hour
stood a tiny country store.
This country store
had something more
than warped wooden floor boards
that shifted and groaned
and well-worn, mismatched
tables and chairs.
This country store was
home to the #6:
Succulent chicken and bacon tossed
with fragrant tarragon, just snipped,
nestled between warm slices of
semolina bread, just baked.
Heaven wrapped in
parchment paper;
bliss in sandwich form.
This country store is no more,
consumed by a ravenous fire.
New construction in a new corporate
park emerged from the ashes.
Sets of identical
metallic tables and chairs
arranged in perfect symmetry
over pristine ceramic tiles
have repl
aced the hodgepodge
aced the hodgepodge
of wooden charm.
Glowing TV screens proudly present
the menu in Technicolor plasma.
And what of the #6?
Dry cubes of chicken fused with
ashen paper flakes posing as tarragon
stuffed between slices of
blandness from a bag.
Blech.
This modernized mutant
of the country store
shall be patronized nevermore.
Grace Burns’ most recent poem to appear at vox poetica was The A-Word, published as part of Contributor Series 6: A Currency of Words in September 2010.
Grace, I love this! I can hear your voice as you read it…I adore your writing my friend!
Grace, this was a wonderful tribute to #6. I could see the poet wading through the rubbish and remembering how she had loved this place.
A wonderful poem! So lyrical. Loved it.