Observations from a Children's Bookstore

2008-12-30T20:30:00.001-08:00

by
Ryan W. Bradley

2008-12-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

Window Display
When They Say Turn the Other Cheek
Bad News by Text Message
Interruption
Punctuation
People Watching
I Don't Make a Living at This
How to Make it Through Your Shift
Customers are not Always Right

Window Display

2008-12-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

The ﬂood of 1997,
the picture in the window,
water cool in my throat.

I wish it was coffee.

If you put things in the window
people will tap on the glass.

I am not in a zoo,
I am not on display,
but if you put things in the window
people will tap on the glass.

All day long.

When They Say Turn the Other Cheek

2008-12-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

Retail is hell,
everybody knows that.

My soul is a cannibal
or maybe I’m just tired,
my eyes stinging with smoky air
from Californian wildﬁres.

Children take books from shelves
and leave them on the ﬂoor.

Outside a tourist ﬁghts with his wife,
“Why do you want to go in a bookstore?”
he shouts into thick air.

Bad News by Text Message

2008-12-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

A text message can never convey
the sorrow I need to express

my head explodes with strikes of lightning
my love crashes like thunder

“scream,” says my brain
but I can’t comply

there’s an old lady in one aisle
and two whining kids in another

all I can say is
I would hold you if I could.

Interruption

2008-12-30T20:16:00.002-08:00

Poetry is constantly interrupted,
each customer a line break,

each dollar

that passes hands,

each credit card swiped

is another minute
my brain has to forget.

Punctuation

2008-12-30T20:16:00.001-08:00

I have a morbid fascination
with ending sentences,
each period a life taken,
cut short

punctuation is a metaphor
for all the hidden rules
that control our lives

it may be what keeps me
from snapping at the woman
who asks the same question
thirty different ways.

People Watching

2008-12-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

Teenage girls
constantly change places
on the park bench
in the plaza,
like musical chairs.

I can hear
cell phone conversations
from half a block away.

I see bums
talking to themselves.

In the store
people yell at their kids,
scolding them for their choice
of books.

Sometimes
it’s not worth watching.

I don't make a Living at This

2008-12-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

Gift wrapping is not my forte
she gave me lessons at home
but still most times it looks like crap.

Maybe I’m too hard on myself.

Or maybe I should stop thinking
about her perfect ass
when I’m trying to wrap
the book someone’s sending
to their grandson
for his ﬁrst birthday.

How to make it through Your Shift

2008-12-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

No one closes
the front door
behind them.

No one puts the books
back where they got them.

No one realizes
they are the customer
from hell.

Who knows
What I’d do
without my daydreams.

Customers are not Always Right

2008-12-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

Books about fairies
sell everyday,
books about ponies
and puppies, too

it doesn’t matter
that you smile at me

your kid just left
an entire shelf of books
on the ﬂoor
and has been squeezing
every talking stuffed animal
creating the orchestra
I thought only Satan could conduct

thank you for telling me
to “have a good day”

I will

when you’ve closed the door
behind you on your way out.

*

2008-12-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Ryan W. Bradley is the founder of North Punk Press and has published Poetry and fiction in a myriad of online and print journals. He is currently finishing his MFA in creative writing at Pacific University and is trying to find homes for both a novel, Code for Failure and a memoir, Dispatches from Mile Zero. He lives in Oregon with his wife and two sons.

northpunkpress.blogspot.com