calls numbers, takes red tickets,
stares at indecisive customers,
her blank face full
as a bowl of rising sourdough,
eyes the color of poppyseed,
a yellow pencil tucked
behind her ear like a cigarette,
pink lipstick a faint wood print,
tight net of dun hair
she washes every night
before bed the smell
of fresh bread getting old
as high school friends
move on leaving her
to fill her purse
with stale donuts
no one will miss.

‍


Don Narkevic: Buckhannon, WV. MFA National University. Poetry appears in The Trillium, Agape, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Blue Collar Review, Dappled Things. In 2022, Main Street Rag published a novella of poetry, After the Lynching. In 2024, The Potomac Playmakers produced From Birth. In 2025, the author won the Ziolkowski Poetry Prize.