skeletons v

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Skeletons
could care less
if they drop jars of jelly
onto supermarket floors
after all
what's broken glass
to a skeleton?

Skeletons
on escalators
how they love
to climb
scrawch
that's the the sound
of skeleton feet
slipping against metal
krowng'g'ch —
the sound of a skeleton
getting his foot stuck
in the treads.

Skeletons
at the magazine rack
shrwip shrwip shrwip
how they love to rifle through
the glossy pages
with their bone dry fingers,
looking at nude pinups
and fantasizing
about flesh.

Skeletons
are dangerous
with shopping carts
rushing up and down the aisles;
kwooruk
is the sound they make
when they try and stop
with their heels
but sometimes they’re not fast enough
and a friend
falls to pieces.

The store near my house
has a Chinese delicatessen
it’s always full
with skeletons;
they order empty plates,
then breaking apart their wooden
chopsticks
they make noises with them
clatter clatter clatter clatter
clatter clatter clatter clatter
then they stop
and look at one another;
it’s their teeth
that clatter next.

I once saw a wife and husband
skeleton
shopping together;
the husband kept picking up
different colored shirts
and holding them
to his rib cage,
each time his wife grimaced
(she was always grimacing);
finally
there was a whisper
it doesn't matter what you wear
you'll still be
a skeleton;
they left store
and I haven’t seen them
since.