RH2: RETAIL NEVER SLEEPS > POETRY
chinaski
stumbles into the building
with his cool guy shades
drinking a can of warm beer
and smoking a strawberry vape
he’s spreading the fiction
that we’re all truly free
but he’s been banned from this place
for three months
chinaski
stumbles while dancing
to the music in his earphones
knocking over a display case
full of self-help books
as i get up again
to phone my new forced friends
the fucking cops.
John Grochalski is the author of five poetry collections, three novels, and the novella Wolves of Berlin Play Amateur Night at the Flute and Fiddle Pub (Alien Buddha Press 2024). He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he’s served the public for 17 long years.