JOANNA BROOKER

in a Publix on Christmas Eve

is my personal hell

& I’m sure everyone else’s—

a mutually assured chaos

of bell peppers, tomatoes, no jalapeños

so we’ll have to tramp to Food Lion too

I guzzled two Miller Lites

& one vape before the motion door

instantly bombarded by people

with a Xeroxed look on their face—

clutching pen scribbled grocery lists

for their dear lives

& they’re out of chives

I am a chaos scribble until my sister orders

I find the green onions & red bell peppers

so I dash around the fresh foods section

chanting the colors in my head like a prayer

& I go back yet again for the havarti

somehow I keep coming back to the same place

I am the havarti

7.47

1 mild & creamy with a delicate buttery tang

soft in my hands like a baby

in light red & purple packaging

I am the shih tzu in a stroller by the ham

I am the man in a cat Christmas suit jacket & hair net,

stuffing frozen turkey into the middle fridge

I don’t know who I am

without something to do

when the world goes cold & silent

JoAnna Brooker is a graduate from the University of Tennessee, where she studied Journalism & English. She is currently a staff director for Sundress Academy for the Arts, & her work has been featured in Jet Fuel Review, HASH Journal, & Menacing Hedge. She can be found on all social media platforms @cupofjoanna, & in her spare time enjoys petting cats & making cheese based meals for her loved ones.