payday
d. phillip caron
In a pawn shop window
on East Main at sixteenth
there is a class ring
embossed Trojans sixty-nine.
Under it in scroll leaf
a dueling pistol with wooden case
from seventeen hundred France.
I put my television on the counter
and hope fifty is a good number.
There is an emtpy whiskey bottle
by the door
from 1905 Lewisville
with a tag that says sixteen dollars
beside a help wanted sign.
A Twenty-two in my pocket;
small, heavy and shiny
but its hard to go home
empty handed.
