Portside

Requiem for a Safeway Employee

By Lita Kurth

It was 3 AM

Maybe a friend at the register up front

signaled for help

Or you saw a suspicious someone

by the beer coolers

You went to help. Spoke up

took some action

interfered with someone’s plan

Must have thought words would

be sufficient

What went through your head

when you saw the gun?

You didn’t hide or run

Maybe the robber was 24 too

It was 3 AM

He came for the cash/beer/lottery tickets

Whatever

From San Jose to Afghanistan

what we want we get with a gun

Go ahead. Take

whatever

But shoot someone in the head?

Was it one of those larger guns

that leave

no head on a body?

The robber took the cash/booze/lottery tickets

also what he didn’t plan

death weighing down a gym bag

his name

in the paper but not for pride

the name “Murderer” hanging on his neck

all the sobs to come

Drink the booze, then, thief

short-time riches

in the time

before you do time

You killed your buzz

you killed a man

What would you give

to begin again

before 3 AM?

Turn back, turn back, security camera

back to the time before the crime

How far back do we have to go?

Before the gun in hand

Long before 24

Long before 3 AM

Lita Kurth has published fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Her book of prompts, One Year Creative Writing Journal: 365 Writing Prompts to Spark Creativity (Sourcebooks, Penguin-Random) is due out in February 2024. She has received multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations for fiction and creative nonfiction. “This is the Way We Wash the Clothes,” (CNF) won the Diana Woods Memorial Award (Lunchticket). She is co-founder of San Jose’s literary reading series, Flash Fiction Forum and teaches at De Anza College and in private workshops. An Advisory Council member of the Working Class Studies Association, she frequently presents at their conferences.