I’ve been shopping for years,
but tonight
the shelves are empty
and glare
beneath fluorescent lights.
The night manager loads
unmarked cans
into a brown bag
for no one who is there.
I ask him about the dearth of
goods upon which
I have come to depend.
He smiles and assures me
that all I have come to expect
is as available to me now
as it ever was.
I need only ask . . .
He nods
and begins to place
plain, white paper packages
into the shallow curve
of bags along the counter.
It is then I realize
we gaze together
toward the freezers.