More for people at Food4Less

Crowded aisles with pre-Thanksgiving shoppers
Women push fully loaded carts
as husbands or brothers watch los niños

Handsome guy in a black shirt
browsing in the frozen food aisle
has a Japanese tattoo on the back of his arm

After I ask him what it means
–something about love – I discover he
is a former marine who served in Japan

I thank him for serving, extending my hand  
to shake his but he forgets his strength
and my hand feels a bit crushed; he apologizes

Former marine is in back of me in checkout line
when an older man cuts in front of me; at first I tell him no
then I see his cart holds only four cabbages plus his cane

Leaving the store, I wish the former Marine
a Happy Thanksgiving, telling him Ooh-rah
which he had explained when I asked him

On the plaza outside the store an older woman struggles
to separate carts, before I can help
a man, evidently stronger, gets there first

As I leave the parking lot a younger woman
helps her mother onto the sidewalk
towards her power-walker; they are Filipino

I chat with them a minute, asking the daughter
to wish her mother a Happy Thanksgiving
in Tagalog

As I continue on my way I realize
I didn’t struggle to write a poem
the ideas came together naturally