CONFRONTATION (or JEAN VALJEAN AT THE GROCERY STORE)
By Dan O'Connell
Filthy bum scrounging
Lucky Supermarket buffet
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Big ladles of lentil soup
Straight to grimy lips
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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
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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
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When confronted by a butcher
Doubling as security, white apron
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Bloody as murder scene plush carpet
Filthy bum preaching
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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.
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From the Editor
Want to read more? Check out Dan's website here!