What Registers

they say

smile at strangers

it’s kind

it will leave

some kind

of impression

but

the strangers

I remember

pay in pennies

at the cash register

leaving a line

of pissed consumers

behind them

I heard one

stranger pay

for cigarettes

and lottery tickets

with food stamps

or some akin

assistance

but it’s none of my business

strangers have

lives

we can’t fathom

we aren’t

in their predicament