Panto-monium in the Parking Lot

A pantoum (poem) on the perils of shopping season

Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash

Crumpled ticket in calloused hand,
She swerved through wily aisles
To find a wheel-free, greenlit gap
Amid the mall-called caravan.

She swerved through wily aisles,
Beset by SUVs crammed into ‘compact’s
Amid the mall-called caravan
Of brand-chanting, deal-seeking shoppers.

Beset by SUVs crammed into ‘compact’s,
Her exhausted sedan thumped a bunch
Of brand-chanting, deal-seeking shoppers,
Casting plastic-swipe flash to the asphalt.

Her exhausted sedan thumped a bunch
Of bumperless, stopped-motion machines,
Casting plastic-swipe flash to the asphalt
And bound-to-clash flap in the air.

—
Special thanks to Lisette Murphy, who inspired me to play with this form