Convenience Store
Paul Stroble
Pull in for unleaded,
park at the curb
if snacks, supplies
are all you need.
It’s a franchise, but still
mom and pop, proud hippies
retired from the road.
who play the ‘60s favorites
and keep a bell by the door
to ring if you love Jesus.
My moment’s sustenance is
peanut butter crackers,
Coke and chips, plus
a newspaper that tells
of distant civil wars,
shootings in the city,
twenty years to life
for a local man
whose wife and kids
don’t know what they’ll do.
That all, hon? asks Shirley.
All for now! I say,
ring the bell, and think
convenience: from con venire,
come together. My
mind fills in, right now.