Ode to Walmart

Ode To Walmart After Midnight 5/9

Gentle behemoth, where even in the night,
it is day.

Come to Walmart! You fuzzy-slippered infant formula
foragers. Come in your Garfield pajama bottoms,
seeking vapor rub, diapers, and disposable nipples.
Walmart can stop your baby from crying.

Come to Walmart! You silly stoners seeking sustenance.
Fill your carts with Fruit Loops,
doughnuts and Doritos. Smile nervously at the security guard.
Walmart has enough for you all.

Come to Walmart you elegant, exquisite, exotic dancers!
Use the grimy bills thrust by old men into your thong,
to buy apple snacks, and Fruit Roll-Ups for
your young son’s lunchbox. Teach him to know better than his elders.

Come to Walmart you lovers! Kiss quietly, curfew-breaking kids.
Let your sparks fly in the electronic section,
amid towering TV screens. The embraces you see there
are nothing compared to your own. Walmart is for lovers.

Come to Walmart, you struggling, yet strong, single mothers.
Come after your second job, and carry sleeping children
in one hand, and an economy sized detergent in the other.
Walmart knows only women can carry such a load. Men would break.

Come to Walmart you night people! You restless insomniacs,
seeking relief, searching amongst the NyQuil and the Tylenol PM
for answers you can’t find in your heart. Come, let the gentle
fluorescent buzz, and the hum of the floor wax machine sing you a lullaby.

Walmart. A sanctuary for those who await the dawn.