Trader Joes

Swinging shut the door of my Mitsubishi, I walk towards my home-away-from home,
Biding time before I have to think about a computer again.
My oasis,
where everyone is attractive and full of gluten-free pasta and sugar-free cookies and has something to live for
You never think about death inside a Trader Joes.
The height of humanity in the form of artificially flavored laughter,
That red and brown hut which holds so many fleeting smiles and promises
When I'm inside you I escape.
My heart beating, with every new item a surge of discovery,
Rounding a corner, a cartoon font etched onto a sign reads:
Buy one get one free!
Buy it, before it dies!
The food I take home requires me to live another day
And so I do.

Grace Lowery graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019 with a degree in Communication Arts and currently lives in Los Angeles, where she has most recently worked at The Simpsons and spends her free time trying (and failing) to learn how to surf.