box of jars

Chris Dungey
Election Day 2008
Here it is late
in the afternoon. Unseasonably warm.
Plenty of jackets left home. Two women
we thought might be lovers
wander out of the coffee shop
after mochachinos. They talk across
the hood of a Buick (the economy
model), then the taller one drives off
in a Dodge Dakota. No one is arguing
in the WiFi room; the television is dark,
not merely muted. So now
we can imagine anything—crews
soon wrapping street light poles
in plastic garland with those tiny white
lights; the so-called 'Recession Special'
(two for one) at Dawg Haus
Coney Island.