From the book And Don’t Come Back, published in 2021.
Friends and Habits
Old lady
thin and small
curved back and retiring glance
walks with care down the aisle
pushing a small wire cart
good morning Carmelita
no she’s not here today
I know she missed you
yesterday I hope you were all right?
Oh good. Enjoy your shopping
I will let her know
you were asking for her
She will be back at work
tomorrow.
1/16/20
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
A vivid, poignant poem-image. Now you have me wondering about the woman and the store employee.
Our everyday encounters become relationships and we notice other people, something that seems even more important these days for lots of reasons. I try to notice the ones I see and also try to be a person in such relationships, I think it helps hold the world together and it’s something at least I can do…And, I do enjoy thinking ab out the stories the often random relationships have in them.
Yes, I agree.
One of the things I really enjoy about shopping in one of our local independent grocery stores is that the manager and the employees know so many of their regular customers by name and know enough about them to strike up meaningful conversations with them. I am not someone they know by name but I still appreciate that warm sense of community that workplace ethos creates.