Principles

not sure if this fits criteria for a poem?

"Do you wear another watch?"

She asked callously

As though my wrist

In all its organic style

Is concern for anyone else

 

“Oh, I don’t know” I said

Gleeful with my dismissive retort

“watches are…”

I casually look past her

Allowing my sentence to fade

 

I despise haughtiness,

Most especially from a sales girl

--with a fohawk

What is wrong with my watch?

It’s antique"post modern

From the late 90’s

 

It doesn’t matter anyway

It is far more about the principle

 

I turn from the counter

And focus my attention on

The shelf display: Chanel N°5

I say to myself (out loud of course)

“I’m almost out of perfume”

My eyes turn to her

my condescending smile soon follows

“would you be a dear” I say

I turn away so to ignore any snide comments

She may so be inclined to express

 

I have less than $200 to my name

And have never bought

Nor, have ever even thought

Of purchasing such a costly perfume

 

But, as I said before

It’s the principle of the matter

that matters

 

So, Chanel

Your fragrance will be especially

Adored by me

And Kraft,

Your macaronis

Will keep me alive and smiling

For the rest of the month

And sales girl,

You can suck it.

Author's Note

hmmm, I don't know either.

Reviews

[Jennifer Lenhardt]

haha, loved it! only suggestion is to put quotation marks around the fist sentence of dialogue in your first stanza. Completely re-latable subject though. had a similar experience at the horse races last year in KY. was trying on hats in the hat shop and not just any hats, 800 dollar hats that the women there wear to the derby. i looked fabulous in a 4 ft. brimmed hat, but one of the sales ladies quickly helped me out of it with some quip remark, that if i didn't have the dough to show then i had no business even trying on. all day long afterwards, i think all i wanted to do was go back in there and buy that hat (from another sales clerk, of course:) haha! hope you smell good in Chanel #5!

[LA Lorena]

What a poignant write, I loved it! A sacrifice made for one's self-dignity. I hope you enjoy the scent! I love situational writes like this. Some poets have that flowing and emotional flair for imagery and floral language, then there are those of us who delight in describing the every day things in life in a simplistic fashion. I guess that makes us like the Jerry Sienfeld's of the poetry world! Poem or not? Who cares? This was brilliant IMO.