Making Small Talk, the Cashier at the Grocery Inadvertently Creates a Religion
Passing the pears over the scanner, she says
These are beautiful. Look at the markings!
And: I don’t know the story of where they’re from.
But I believe they are just right.
And passing the figs:
So complex, what’s on the inside.
Everything worthwhile has a kind of mystery.
I don’t bother with it more than that.
The chèvre in its paper, rolled
and taped, she handles with care.
I’ll put that on top. With delicate things
its best to be careful. What is it?
she asks. When I tell her goat cheese,
she smiles. Everything, she says,
that partakes of the grasses
will taste of the grasses. Everything
that partakes of the earth...
and in all this rain we’ve been having...
passing the berries across,
waving the delicate wafers by the scanning eye.
I just let the day unfold, she says
waving the bottle of wine across,
and try to dress accordingly.
Amy Newman | Sandalwood Poetry Reed Diffuser Set
Amy Newman is a poet and a translator. Her books include An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Happiness and Unhappiness, On This Day in Poetry History, and Dear Editor, all published by Persea Books. Her translations of the poems and letters of Antonia Pozzi appear widely. Her awards include a MacDowell Fellowship, numerous state art grants, and The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Translation.
