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.