If I Worked in a Grocery Store...Poem #232

Students - every time I go to the grocery store, I look at other people's groceries.  This is a nosy habit.  When I stand in line, placing my own items on the conveyor belt, I wonder about the people ahead of me and behind me in line:  Does he live alone?  Why is that lady buying ten bottles of ginger ale?  I wonder who has a cough?  How did they get so healthy?  What kind of party is that family having?  Who is the rose for?

When she was a high school student, my former student, friend, and wonderful writer, Heather, worked at a grocery store.  I remember asking her if she thought about the different people and what they bought.  She said she did.  The other day, I asked the lady who checked my groceries if she wonders about the shoppers and their different assortments of food.  She said she didn't.  

This is something I've thought about for years and think about weekly, each time I shop, just imagining about the people around me each day.  Such wonderings, got me started on this poem.  I took one wondering and then asked, What if?  (What if I worked in a grocery store?) What do you frequently wonder about? What might you turn into a What if?  Do you have any embarrassing nosy habits that you could write about?

On a similar note, one book I have loved for years (and just repurchased used since it is sadly out-of-print) is Dale Gottlieb's MY STORIES BY HILDY CALPURNIA ROSE.  Each page is a different story, written by Hildy, about her neighbors.  I have to wonder if this book didn't inspire my poem a wee bit.

Available through Amazon

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)