Poetry of Issue #7        Page 30

What I Learned at My Bodega at Midnight

You can keep your gallstones in a jar (if you have them)
A baby turned over 3 times will stop crying (if you have one)
The Power of Attraction (the book) will change your life
Drink and Smoke (it’s all good)
Think Positive
                 (you’ll be fine).

Ice cream,
  toilet paper, a tampon run at midnight
                           makes people friendlier

Mrs. Bodega is cooking up something spicy in the curtained backroom
The table is set for dinner
  toilet paper, a tampon run at midnight
                           They keep their country’s hours

Ask the proprietor anything:
                           Will my cat get better?
                           Is this a false positive?
                                      I thought anything positive was a good thing

I have cockroaches in my apartment
Do you sell boric acid?

Can I see your gall stones floating in formaldehyde?
What is that thing on my back?

Immigration makes for a smarter America

I’ll just stay in this dusty corner
Name your price
The night brings strange traders.

  Vicki Iorio