Monday, January 24, 2022

Peter Mladinic

DELICACY

Lloyd, whose surname
will come
when I’m pulling into the bank
or on line at the teller’s window,

In an aisle of the cooler
saw me throw a broom
at my boss, Chuck Hinton.
“That was out of character,” said

Lloyd of the pressed suit,
the BMW,
a man I could speak to.
Hands folded
at his desk he waited
while I wanted to crawl
the heck out from
under his stare.
Shale Distributing was food.
What Lloyd didn't see
wouldn’t hurt him
or Shale, furtively,
down in the freezer. I heated
Cryovac packets of beef
between radiator slats.

Brown bubbles of juice
flavored beef.
I slit open the plastic wrap
and ate the slices.
Warm, delicious going down.


Pete's YouTube reading of "Delicacy":



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Pete confesses: "This poem took at least five years to write. The ending of is very different from what it was, say, two years ago. The two work-related incidents are taken from real life 1975-77. Both go against the work-ethic grain of the food distribution plant—but while one is overall negative, the other, the petty pilfering, is positive."


PETER MLADINIC's fourth book of poems, Knives on a Table, is available from Better Than Starbucks Publications. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico.

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