[the Writing of Kuypers]
I’m with my dad now, for a few weeks
and he’s started going to WalMart now
okay, sometimes he has two cans of soup
you see, he opens the can of soup
(don’t ask,
and we’re used to visiting him
well, he’s learned to go to WalMart now
well, he’s learned to go to WalMart now
###
I remember going to WalMart with mom
###
So were were at WalMart
and we passed the pasta aisle,
they didn’t have it
###
we got to the soup aisle for dad
he agreed
I realized then
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[JanetKuypers.com][Bio][Poems][Prose]
Cardboard Bending At WalMart
Janet Kuypers, 09/08/06 #3
helping him adjust to mom passing
he’s learned how to make the coffee
he’s learned how to use the dishwasher
he says he’s learned how to wash clothes
though I haven’t seen him wash clothes yet
because they have a good price
on the cans of chicken broth
he drinks every night
instead of having another
Grand Suzette liquor drink
before he goes to bed
before he goes to bed
and pours half of it into an insulated
plastic cup
and heats that cup in the microwave
for three minutes thirty-three seconds
(it’s easier to press 333 for the time)
then he takes out the hot soup,
and pours the remaining unheated soup
into the plastic cup
so it’s the correct temperature
this is just how he does it)
and when he wants to have a glass of soup
we open a can for him,
pour half of it into a glass,
heat it, add the cold soup
and bring him his drink
especially because they supply
free electric carts
for those who don’t want to walk through
the labyrinth of aisles in the SuperStore
because they have the cheapest prices
for cans of soup
for soup for dad
and she’d find the lowest price
and the stock boys would leave opened boxes
for 18 packs
or 24 packs
of soup en masse
and we’d but one opened cardboard box,
maybe two
so that dad wouldn’t have to worry
about running of of his soup
dad in his slow-moving little electric cart
me slowing down my pace to stay with him
it was a SuperStore, so I got tomatoes
and Mike’s Hard Lemonade
and Saltines for dad there
and dad hates paste with a passion,
but I said that mom used to have flavored
packs of pasta
that could be be prepared ready-made
for a meal
so I ran down the aisle
to look for what mom always bought
I searched
so I had to settle for something close
to what she always had
he picked out one that he remembered drinking
I think it was a more expensive soup
and then I pulled out the cheapest soup,
remembering the label
and said
I think this is the one you have at home
and there was one opened cardboard box
left of his soup of choice
like I did in the past with mom,
I tried to see if I could lift the box
to put the whole box in our cart
his electric cart and chair
that was so hot
because it was outside
in the Florida sun
but the box started to buckle
when I tried to pick it up,
and a can or two tipped over
I couldn’t do things like I did before
and moved all of his cans
one by one into his cart
before we could pay and go home
Copyright © 2006 Janet Kuypers.
Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers
on all art and all writings on this site completed
before 6/6/04. All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.
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