Now we don’t shop, at least in stores.
Now we peruse catalogues and websites.
No more clerks or cashiers, no more
dressing rooms and lines, no more going
around the block or lot looking for a place
to park, no more carrying bags full of
whatever we bought in the department store
clothing and dishes, lamps and luggage.
Now we order online, have become names
and numbers, credit cards and addresses.
Things we buy arrive boxed or wrapped, sit
out on the front stoop till we get home or
happen to look out. Now we know the trucks
FedEx, UPS, even the Post Office pulling up.
Rarely a word is spoken or a wave to show
we know why they are pulling up and our
place in the world of contemporary getting
and spending. Now we are learning to go
without all that getting up and going out
all that dealing with people we barely knew.
Now we are learning about the new form
of anonymity, the online order, the package
on the step, the uncomfortable quiet of it all.
J. K. Durick is a retired writing teacher and online writing tutor. His recent poems have appeared in Third Wednesday, Black Coffee Review, Literary Yard, Sparks of Calliope, Synchronized Chaos, Madswirl, Journal of Expressive Writing, Lightwood, and Highland Park Poetry.