White / Our Store

White shirt,
White apron with yellow stains on it
A card snapped at the edge of it
Black shoes, black pants, black soul
Black eyes, and black eyelashes

All the demands of the managers,
And I've managed to check every box on the paper
White gloves, I change carelessly every five seconds
I cut a fat liver with a sharp knife that I run through hot water for a long time
I dispose of it in a dirty brown paper plate, secure it with a hard plastic cover,
swipe my card, and give them the note
I tell them the payment is on the other side of the road.

I stand up for 9 hours straight
I catch all the trash bags and throw them over my shoulder
I walk and walk and walk until I let go of them,
and somehow, I get five new yellow stains"
all over my white shirt, my white apron, my white gloves, my white soul.

I get ridiculed by words
I receive loud vocals of anger
I crash, go to the bathroom, and cry

I stand up again, but I slouch, organizing the paper bags
I ask them if they'd like me to heat their food
They coldly ask me not to

I get a break. I walk to my locker
My colleague asks, "Are you going alone to eat your burger?"
I say yes and rush out the door
I sit on the floor. I don't want to care anymore

Two new yellow stains on my white shirt, white apron, bare white hands
Knuckles faded, blood circulation arrested, mind and soul stranded

Lying on the sand of a deserted beach, tainted
She was found at 6PM: fainted