Sunday 14 June 2009

Newly Weds at the Grocery Store by Mather Schneider

He can’t believe she doesn’t like radishes.
He loves them,
they make you burp.
His father loved them too.
“I love my burpers,”
his father used to say.

She is perturbed about the burpers.
They remind her of her aunt Penelope.
To her they are just depraved little apples
that make you cry.
She ripely repudiates their presence.

Is the problem of the burpers
ungovernable?
The decibels by the vegetable bin
impel us to hyperbole.

We’d hate to see them go their separate ways
over a spat in produce—
he soap-boxing the burper,
she purpling
in apoplectic loathing of it.

Whatever happens I hope they remember:
culpability
does not bed with the burper.

The burper is just a tiny tuber.




Mather Schneider, Arizona, USA

2 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Mather is a 39 year old cab driver living with a Mexican girl in Tucson. No awards, college degrees, children or pets. His work has appeared in the small press since 1996.

Aiko said...

This was great to read out! Lots of great sound play & 'burper' is an excellent, perfect word.