Commerce

I watch
old women
push
shopping carts
in and out
of the Dollar General.
They buy
the most
mundane things:
shampoo,
pretzels,
paper towels.
They walk
their carts
to late model cars
in the
hot sun.
They put
their items away,
softly,
carefully
and then
drive off
to mid-size
suburban homes.
I sit
and watch them,
chain-smoking
my Pall Malls.
Their lives
are ticking by
and my life
is ticking by
in this
tiny parking lot
in the
middle of
nowhere.