FOOD SHOPPING IN THE TIME OF CORONA

by Mary K O'Melveny

It turns out that canned sliced

pears are not popular.

They sit, almost alone,

on our grocery shelves.

Police tape blocks the aisles

where paper goods and cleaning

products were once aligned.

Rice in every form

now as valuable as

bank notes. More so perhaps.

Remaining cereals

evidence an uptick

in healthy choices

where a few random boxes

of sugared, rainbow hued

circles sit, lonely as

parted lovers outside

a balcony. Liver

has survived a run on

plastic wrapped proteins.

Tilapia remains

displayed on ice, its gloss

turning toward slime. No

more salmon or codfish.

We are all angling for

new schools of thought about

survival, wishing we

had root cellars and cans

of last summer’s beans, corn.

All the flour has vanished.

Will we have time enough

to sort through our affairs

before this outbreak ends?

Each display case poses

questions we do not wish

to answer. As we pass,

shoppers move their carts

away. Some wear masks, gloves.

I push on to the fruit

section. There are mangoes!

* * * * *

Mary K O’Melveny, a retired labor rights lawyer, lives with her wife in Washington DC and Woodstock, NY. Mary, a Pushcart Prize nominee, is author of A Woman of a Certain Age and MERGING STAR HYPOTHESES (Finishing Line Press 2018, 2020) and co-author of the anthology An Apple In Her Hand (Codhill Press 2019).