Good Stuff

South of the dogleg in downtown Marshall,
east side of Main Street, in part of a large
building that was, many years ago, home
to a thriving Chevrolet dealership,
Jon and Amy run Good Stuff Grocery--
on the east wall a tall rack of good wines
(and on the back side of that, the kitchen),
in the northeast corner a small section
of chips and cookies, a cooler of beer
(good beer: Java Stout and La Fin du Monde),
beneath the cash register, candy bars
(Snickers, Mounds, Almond Joy, Butterfinger),
left of these, along the north wall, the bar
of dark polished wood, where sit two sisters,
young, blond, drinking with the village loafer,
who sits between them, grins and strokes his beard,
through the western wall of glass, the last glow
of daylight mingled with the first of night.
Along the southern wall, where once hung tools
(sockets and wrenches for fixing Chevys)
now hang the works of local folk artisits,
and in the southeast corner, near the wine,
is the performance space--a piano,
a PA and mic, a small guitar amp,
a tip jar--where Friday or Saturday
evenings, I'm sometimes found--with guitar
pressed against me, lips near kissing the mic--
singing to my friends and friendly strangers,
while Jon keeps the bar, Amy the kitchen
(chili $3.95 a cup). Good stuff.


(for Friday, 15 October)