Rotund Mrs. Goldstein, my boss
asked me if I was taking drugs
Of course I was
Drugs were like sex, which I wasn’t getting
and ice cream, which I was getting a lot of
serving myself from the ice cream tubs
when she and her husband weren’t looking
Drugs and ice cream
direct lines to pleasure
No, Mrs. G. I’m not taking drugs
Max, you give me denials like a drink machine gives cans of soda
I was taken aback by her use of metaphor
and couldn’t match her eloquence
my lies flat-footed
She gave me a skeptical look
and stepped closer
I’m only five foot four
She was a broad wall in front of me
I had the thought that I could step forward
and kiss her aproned chest
smelling of corned beef
lean against her
and pray
as if I were at the Wailing Wall
in Jerusalem
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over fourteen-hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for numerous prizes, and was awarded the 2017 Booranga Writers’ Centre (Australia) Prize for Fiction. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, is based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition. His new poetry collection was published in 2019, The Arrest of Mr Kissy Face. He lives in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Inky Interview: Author Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois from Denver, Colorado
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