HUNGER
Stephen Jarrell Williams

Robbery
at the grocery store

Tuesday night
parking lot near empty

cop car flashing
a guy in cuffs

screaming and crying
he had no food

I kept my distance
saw he was thin

apple pie
smeared around his mouth

a small crowd gathering
they pushed him into the cop car

he had holes
in the bottom of his shoes

he looked at me
as they drove him away

he could have been me
he could have been everyone

circumstance dictating
hunger eating away his mind.

—First published in Blue Collar Review

CP

Stephen Jarrell Williams has done everything from mowing lawns to being an executive at a software company. His poetry and short stories have appeared in over a hundred publications. He loves to write, listen to his music, and dance late into the night.