Saturday, March 10, 2007

NUCLEAR BABY


To Ron Cohn and all
those poisoned by what they eat


The biohazard waste man
Rides in the elevator

An open wound
Infecting the candy
From Russia
To England
From Russia
To America

“There’s a lot of people eating our candy”

( From the bins at
the bulk section of the store
[Henry’s Marketplace Chula Vista]
Where you can also
Find poppy seeds)

Ron Cohn said
As we both stood behind the case
Full of dead fish
Dead Meat
Dead Italian Pork

When it came time
To wash the blood off
The cutting tables
I would grab a transparent
Garbage bag
Cut a hole on the bottom
And use it as a rain suit

Because the water
Coming from the hose
Would splash meat & blood
All over the place

The only thing Ron would say
When he saw my wet
Improvised poncho was
“It’s raining”

You can’t work under those circumstances
For too long
Under those conditions
I was bound to get hurt
Soon I was under modified duty
Bagging candy

So I sat there
With a bag in one hand
And candy on the other one

Ron would stop by to stuff candy
In his mouth
I would look at him
And he would look at me and say:

“You get to do this when you
Own a store”

But I found a nuclear baby
Under a shopping cart
It appeared like it had been hit

The Radio is Active

So when you come
To the Marketplace
Thinking Henry’s is good for your life
Think twice and enter
Under you own risk

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

MARKET [PLACE] OF MASS DESTRUCTION



The smog has lifted
From Point Loma
I can see it
So very clear
All the way down
From Mexico

I can read it
On the newspapers
At the threshold
Of Ron Cohn’s
Chula Vista store

No wonder the fish
Are turning to mush
Inside the case
Cold and smelly pulp
But the sign said
Pacific Snapper

Is the bacteria
In seafood
A biological weapon?

When the engine overheats
It begins to vomit water
But the motor’s strong
Because it has
Thoughts of steel

The client made a comment
On the 3 levels of meat
“It starting to look like Vons”
He said
And I thought:
That’s what customer service
Is all about

The astute observation
Of the red Mercedes
Persuaded the judge
To rule in favor
Of Mr. Cohn’s
Ex—employee

Many are convinced
The best cars in the world
Are those
German Hondas