I'm confused, the lady a stranger you met that picked your interest or someone you know and hurt. If you could tell me which it is I would appreciate it. Aside from the confusing part I really loved it. It gives you a lot to think about.

What really stuck with me was ‘empty look on her face, the kind you’re used to in this place’ so true of being in public spaces but having to deal with personal immense emotions


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I was commenting on another poem about how I enjoy poetry with a clear setting in ordinary locations, so here “supermarket” in the title piqued my interest. So to me the notion of some event occurring “in the condiment aisle” or “the bakery” is all the more interesting. And more than a few smiles in here too, like a shopping list swallowed, or the “empty look on her face”. I also more generally enjoyed the fleeting encounter that this recounts, with “tips her glasses” to me providing vivid imagery.

I dropped my smile  
at the sight of her in the condiment aisle.

When I had selected my mustard,  
she was no longer flustered.

Tears marked in mascara  
a grimace like Guevara.

She had a trolley to push,  
no time to blush.

I respectfully followed,  
my shopping list swallowed

She paused by the bakery.  
Would it be fakery,

if I offered assistance  
taking a sword to the distance

we’re supposed to have in these settings,  
as consumerist cretins?

Oh, now she turns,  
a stare but no gurns.

An empty look on her face,  
the kind you're used to in this place.

I smile wide as she passes.  
She sees, and tips her glasses 

Then we both take our trolleys  
into our worlds of wisdom and follies.

Loading them high  
until the day we die.

&amp;#x200B;

[Review 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/xqw4a9/comment/iqcnntp/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3)

[Review 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/xr3oxu/comment/iqcnaux/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3)

Tears in the supermarket