Saturday, January 15, 2011

24 Hour Superstore

aisles and aisles of nothing
stacked eight feet high
and going on for miles
a line of goods coming in the back door
stretching all the way back to China
she walks down every row
looking at lawn chairs and baby clothes,
digital cameras and Cheerios,
socket wrenches and frozen yogurt,
riding lawnmowers and strapless bras,
picture frames and tampons,
pot roasts and sleeping bags,
but she never finds what she needs
she never finds love
she can’t buy confidence
she won’t discover hope
she can’t acquire  happiness
so, like all the other people
who are walking the aisles
at this time of night,
she shops

16 comments:

  1. Excellent poem. Reminds of many people I know who go to the mall just to kill time. Emotional inner voids IMO are not filled by products and shopping. I really like the lines, "looking at lawn chairs and baby clothes, / digital cameras and Cheerios." Great details and flow.

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  2. You nailed it with this one! The first line was great "aisles and aisles of nothing." I absolutely HATE these stores, but I know people who love them. They keep trying to fill their souls with "stuff."

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  3. Exactly! Oh I have someone to read this too. :)

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  4. Wow. Brilliant poem, so striking the last lines.

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  5. nope you wont find that at walmart....esp with prices going up these days...happiness certainly cannot be bought...but you can find it fairly cheap if you look inside

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  6. fun word play,
    love the insights in it.

    counting your blessings and be happy.

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  7. For some drugs, others food, for many alcohol, and then there are the shoppers... all of them seeking to fill that emptiness. Good write.

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  8. I think a took a different meaning from all others who have commented here from your poem .....as for me I could see a woman who fills her daytime with chores of works having no time to think and yet at night she is filled with thoughts clogging her mind and sleep ...she shops at night laying sleepless

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  9. Great! I recently attempted a similar poem after going to Barnes and Noble, but you have done much better. You dug much deeper. Thank you for sharing!

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  10. Good, meaningful write. Another poet here ,Blaga from "BROKEN SPARKLES" too wrote a short story on the search of love . Searching along supermarket aisles for this elusive item is so futile. Thanks for sharing.
    Butterflies of time

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  11. i have never understood people like this, but I do see them all the time.
    and yes, it is a sad commentary of society these days. well done

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  12. Yes, I wrote a story about a girl who looks for love as a supermarket or mall item or just part of the household ... I guess your poem here could've been assigned to people who use shopping as a therapy, though I personally never found it therapeutic, it doesn't matter with how many bags you come home, the value of life you won't find inside those bags! Nice poem Charlie!

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  13. Hm ... lotta truth here. I enjoyed it!

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  14. A great one Charlie... :) :) It hit the chord with me...and so much deep... :)

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  15. Brings me back to memories of doing groceries. And I have that song about being lost in a supermarket playing in my head. mmmm....

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  16. In town we have a 24hr supermarket and I haven't been there at 3am yet - and I'm a committed insomniac with nothing better to do! Nice poem, may I add.

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