The Secret Life Of Produce Managers

Explains why we should all eat Necco Wafers.

Somewhere in a plastic box, not a clear rigid plastic box, the kind with holes for drainage lies the secret to life
moist and dripping pertinent information
into the open mouth of a produce manager
working the graveyard shift at a Stop and Shop.

This I know to be a fact along with something else
almost as earth shattering and implausible.

(Although these two concepts would seem to cancel each other out, they do not, indeed, they do not.)

The old man at the toll booth on the New York Thruway
takes some of the coins drivers toss in the basket
and uses them to buy Necco Wafers and Root Beer
on his way home to New Jersey.

Sometimes he swishes a Necco wafer around in his mouth with some Root Beer and for a minute,
just until he has to swallow,
he believes he is drinking a Corona on a secluded beach
and there’s a girl named Juanita lying next to him, naked.

Once he stopped at Stop and Shop to grab a lime
(it all felt so real)
and that produce manager who sucked up half
the juicy secret of life between 10:30 and midnight
that seeped out of the plastic box with drainage holes whispered this to him:

Never run out of Necco wafers.
 

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

i am smiling just enough to face the day now! love this ... i have pictured you way too young to have any knowledge of Necco Wafers ..(love the pic) they were a nickle when i was a kid ... never even occurred to me nor my buddies to swill them down with root beer ... your style has a Norman Rockwell quality but without the dust ... i am enjoying your writings very much ..
E.

[LJW]

How awesome you dug to the beginning of my postings here on the WC!! An oldie for sure. Oh, I'm old enough to remember Necco Wafers. Man, they were nasty. Almost as nasty as Canada Mints.

Wow. Again, your contrasting my style to Norman Rockwell. Sans dust. Thanks!

[SkinlessFrank]

once I downed 2 packages of these little jewels....I was in seventh heaven until my colon burst open like a rotten melon

[ANTO]

The first line is so fun. The whole thing is great fun. Magical images - can see the toll guy and the produce manager so clearly in my mind's eye. (Mines are probably stereotypical as heck which is unfair to this unique poem)

[Glen Yumang Manese]

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE VERSE CATCHES YOUR ATTENTION QUITE QUICKLY IN THE LINES...DID YOU WANT THE LINE TO EXTEND THAT FAR OUT IN THE FIRST SENTENCE???JUST CURIOUS...

AS FOR THE REST OF THE PIECE...THEY WAY YOU PUT THIS NARRATIVE TOGETHER WITH THE OLD MAN AND HE COMMUTE HOME WITH SOME SPARE CHANGE HE STOLE TO BUY NECCO WAFERS AND A ROOT BEER...PLUS THE DAYDREAMING ROLE OF A CORONA AND A BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AS HE EATS AND DRINKS THE TIME AWAY...AND THE IRONY OF IT ALL PLAYS OUT IN THE END...AT THE STOP AND SAVE...MAY BE HE SHOULD OF JUST BOUGHT MORE NECCO WAFERS AND ANOTHER ROOT BEER...

THE INNER VOICE PLAYS OUT IN THE LINES ALSO AS I READ THIS...IN THE MIDDLE AND THE END...

[LJW]

I was high as a kite when I wrote this. The 1st line looks about the same as the others in length here on my Smart Phone. Yuck. Necco Wafers and Root Beer? I'm so glad I stopped smoking THAT stuff. ;-)
Thanks so much for the visit.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

I HAVEN'T HAD NECCO WAFERS...IN QUITE A LONG TIME...BUT THE NARRATIVE OF THIS MADE FOR AN INTERESTING READ...YOU'RE WELCOME...I'LL HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE OTHER VERSES OF YOUR WORK...GOOD DAY...

[Lola Nation]

oh how twisted the fruits of life and sweet sensations... the lime felt oh so real, hilarious!

Because I think it's pretty clear that the produce manager is sucking the secret of life out of the plastic boxes, I would consider shortening the last area - although, it may be like that for reading aloud and pulling the audience back to the beginning, however, the strunk and white part of me wants to edit this little portion to:

and that produce manager who sucked up half
the juicy secret of life between 10:30 and midnight
whispered this to him:

or maybe re arrange it a little like this:

and that produce manager who sucked up half
the juicy secret of life
from the plastic box with drainage holes
between 10:30 and midnight

but that may be too much separation from the action to the time frame?

Regardless of my half a*s edits, I think this poem rocks.

Redvines and coca cola are a whole other area to explore!
whispered this to him:

[Doctor JKC]

You can never trust over-night workers in any retail situation.
They tend to be sad and angry.

Necco wafers reminded me of Canada Mints. Very Old School candies.
I had to change a candies name to Junior Mints in the poem I just posted
because no one remembers Canada Mints.

The tool booth man and the night manager= it takes one to know one.

Seeping is an underused word, especially in these days.

I really love this work as it conveys the ways of secret human nature;
the tiny things.

That's good advice about the Necco wafers he got.
I'll bet they make the Root Beer fizz in an almost agonizing way.
And swallowing is both satisfying and disappointing at the same time.

You are a very, very good writer,
Dr. Jack