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CONFRONTATION (or JEAN VALJEAN AT THE GROCERY STORE)

By Dan O'Connell

Filthy bum scrounging

Lucky Supermarket buffet

Big ladles of lentil soup

Straight to grimy lips

Fistfuls of potato salad

Stuffed in mouth

 

And pockets

Of his mud-streaked slicker

 

With fancy olives and

Tarragon croutons

 

Filthy bum combing

Dainty greens

Dredging fruit salad pan

With a beaten-up Tupperware

 

That looks like a clam shell

Washed up on the shore

 

Filthy bum foraging

Packing chow mein into a paper bowl

 

With street-scarred hands

Has a good point

When confronted by a butcher

Doubling as security, white apron

Bloody as murder scene plush carpet

Filthy bum preaching

I’m hungry I’m hungry

What would you do?

About the Author

Dan O’Connell is a four-time award winning poet. His poems have appeared over seventy times, including in Mississippi Review, Parthenon West Review, and most recently America Magazine (Foley Poetry Prize, 2015), Ina Coolbrith Poetry Prize (2017), RavensPerch (2018), and Ghost Town Review (2018). A former Philosophy and Rhetoric professor, Dan has his own law practice with a focus on protecting the underdog, and teaches and writes about Law. He is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Different Coasts, and Theory of Salvation.

From the Editor

Want to read more? Check out Dan's website here!

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