Welcome, sincerely

Welcome To Walgreen’s

It’s still early when I stop in

for my Friday New York Times.

Still, so very still

up well lit slot canyons

carved deep into strata

of Pain Relief and Laxatives

Ointments and thirty-packs

of Bud Light, Seasonal animatronics

enough to support an insanity plea.

One old woman, held in tableau

clutching a purse to the placket

of her fluted black coat

radiates a faith

worthy of your vilest penitent  

before a Covenant Ark

of anti-inflammatories

Still Crazy After All These Years

piped in to set a mood.

Still, you found the time

for the warmest of greetings

as I walked in, not

the stillborn kind

you’d expect at your CVS

or your Costco

bestowing same on one and all

even the busy, babbling

Bluetooth man.

But be still

my heart at checkout

as if a heartfelt welcome

was somehow insufficient

in these spiritually bereft times.

Did I find everything I was looking for?

You bet I did indeed and more.