Poem of the Week

LISTENERS

At the bookstore,

People would come in

Wanting to express

Their political opinions.

They were especially bad

When an election was near.

Often, they’d see some book

On display behind me,

And, with quivering rage,

Tell me how much

They hated so and so,

What he espoused.

I’d shrug,

Say something neutral,

Or nothing at all.

I think

My apathy

Irked them more

Than any loyalty I might’ve averred

For the politician they despised.

If pressed,

I would’ve said,

As an employee, it

Doesn’t behoove me to

Express an opinion.

However,

Had I met these people on the street,

I would’ve done the same:

Expressed indifference,

Or nothing.

Biography

S.F. Wright lives and teaches in New Jersey. His work has appeared in Hobart, Linden Avenue Literary Journal, and Elm Leaves Journal, among other places. His short story collection, The English Teacher, is forthcoming from Cerasus Poetry.

All he says about his writing is as follows.

My writing process is simple: create a mess, and then try to chisel order, and hopefully art, out of that mess. My stylistic influences are broad: Li Po, Sandra Cisneros, and Charles Bukowski are a few.