On Writing

The image is everything:
- a woman in a busy grocery store.
(scratch that. a tall thin woman with
lacrosse-stick legs and a stomach
bulging out beyond her large breasts.
short grey hair, button down blue sweater,
long pleated brown skirt, tights, not hoes.)
in a busy grocery store. (still.
that can stay the same, I think.)
- she picks up an apple
(golden delicious)
and polishes it against her (woolen) sweater
- Her eyes dart
(behind silver spectacles. Or bifocals?)
- She takes a handkerchief out of her
(large but empty) purse (entirely empty,
save the handkerchief)
and wraps it around the apple.
- She leaves the store.
Can you see it?
- She leaves the store with a full purse
And a full conscience, and a gnawing guilt,
(and dinner)