family-owned corner grocery store

me and my sparrow friends and family
know how to make us any place a home:
we feather the branches 
of the privet hedge
on the corner of school and knowlton
this morning

and if you don’t know better, you think
you’re at market basket 
just as the doors open—
all us cashiers and stockers
and cart attendants
and deli counter workers
flocking together, shifting 
hopping rearranging
to greet each other, every one,
buenos días, ¿como éstás?

big smiles, loud laughs,
generous hugs, cheerful cheekpecks,
high-speed chitterchirping—
‘nita, your mamá’s surgery go good?
hey, where’s the lowest gas price today?
did i tell you ‘bout we gonna have
a big party for our anniversary?
¡dios mio! juan making me crazy
we need a new car we need a new car.

then,
we fly
from our home base
to our stations
to work our jobs—
all us early birds
our bellies filled.

—dotty seiter

=====

=====
Notes about poem and art:
• “family-owned” is a poem written in free verse with its inspiration coming from observations made on a particular late May predawn walk, one of countless predawn walks that act as my home base each day.
• Sepia and Umber showcases a warm palette of sparrow browns, earth tones I am drawn to perhaps related to my having been born under the sign of Taurus.