‘afternoon like cotton’ by Paul Tanner

the dude outside Sainsbury’s with the burned
face says the lizards are coming.
so? I ask
and he realises he doesn’t really care either.
he goes back to chewing his fingernail
and I, mine. there’s
just one shopping trolley in the whole car park.
there’s just one god: we outnumber him
but we’re cowards or lazy.
I shop. I can’t buy anything, but I shop.
I think I used to work here.
a girl on the checkouts looks at me, then looks away.
yeah, I definitely worked here at some point. I remember
that sneer. outside, burned face dude is gone.
maybe the lizards took him.
I start a fire in the bin and hold my face to the flames
then go sit where he was.
the lizards are coming, I tell a passing shopper.
so? she says.

From issue #12: autumn/winter 2021

About the Author
Paul Tanner’s been earning minimum wage, and writing about it, for too long. Was shortlisted for the Erbacce 2020 Poetry Prize. Shop Talk: Poems for Shop Workers was published last year by Penniless Press. No Refunds: Poems and cartoons from your local supermarket is out now, from Alien Buddha Press.