Read Poem: There’s a Sparrow Loose in the Walmart Store, by Robert Wilson

Perched on an iron rafter overlooking
this supersized suburb of China,
a sparrow stares at the sesame seed bagels.
He twitches, repulsed by the glue traps
so close to the contraceptives,
the hometown pharmacist hoarding Sudafed,
Ol’ Roy dog food.
He is ignored by the blue cashiers
and the yellow assistant managers,
just another minor health code violation
pecking on celery, shitting on hand sanitizers.
He is just another Tuesday.

Every second it’s noon in every Walmart Store,
enormous lights directly overhead so bright
the blind regain their sight.
The sparrow makes dusty gray shadows
flying over the rifles and swiffers,
the clearance rack of unclaimed five dollar
Starter basketball shorts and mesh tops,
all the same size, small.
A thousand people and one sparrow
pass the isles today, misfortune
bringing them all together.
We all have our special needs in the Walmart Store.
We save money, we live better,
we are the one boss, the customer.
We are the new romantic spirits
summoned with our receipts in our plastic bags
to Yelp our shopping experiences:

I would rate zero stars but not an option.
I’m tired of being treated as guilty by default.
Not one of these people said sorry you hurt yourself.
It reminds me of the mistake K-mart made in the 90’s. Now who shops there?
Beware. Walmart only sells tobacco products and alcohol to Americans.
Try to remember they handle hundreds of thousands maybe millions of transactions every day
and every once in a while something will go horribly wrong.

Author: poetryfest

Submit your Poetry to the Festival. Three Options: 1) To post. 2) To have performed by an actor 3) To be made into a film. View all posts by poetryfest