Photo: mikesavad.com
I want to be a pharmacy
that’s open all day and all night
and makes deliveries for free.
My clerks would be rainbow-bloused angels,
fluent in the lingual acts and active arts of kindness.
I’d carry the widest array of solutions
for every possible disaster
(so not a small store,
but neither a colossal corp-of-a-store).
All my tonics would be non-toxic,
rigorously tested by the non-quixotic.
I’d carry a purity for every infirmity,
an anti for every inflammatory.
In my apothecary
there’ll be gel-caps of stout stem cells,
that race —
sirens and lights — to the site of every injury;
followed by time capsules, which, taken as directed,
will preclude all subsequent accidents.
Of course I’ll stock stardust
from all the best constellations.
Of course all chocolates, even Cake Pops,
will brim with antioxidants.
Among my sundries:
oil of gladness, edible sunrises, musicians-in-bottles,
wind treasures, potable shade.
My sunglasses will put you in touch with yourself.
Take a look, the mirror is filter-free yet merciful.
In the back will be a studio with play-based paints,
a heliodome for your pets,
a round lounge with full-range-woofers of silence,
(to drain the noise from your bones),
opening into a space with rejoicing trees,
real crickets, song sparrows and curative waters
running over obsidian, pooling
beside a steam room of sacred cedar.
For you, at the checkout, on the eye-level shelf,
you’ll find a complimentary neck-brace
of such ergonomic elegance,
you’d swear
the world
was a thousand-armed embrace of everlasting tenderness.
Please rush the contact info for this pharmacy!
I’m on it. Thanks Ike!
A departure for you, a little, ,poetically. What an incredible little gem.
I hadn’t noticed. And thank you for your kindness!
I would love to roam about in this pharmacy (so would Deb).
Thanks Joanne!
Yes!!
Yes please! I would like to go there.
It’s most everything I wish for you Teryl.
Do you know, Stephen, that in these words, and in all the words you offer, you are indeed this pharmacy? And that as we step into them, for the moment, we forget all that weighs us down in the welcome of the “thousand-armed embrace of everlasting tenderness”? Thank you for this comforting space to be.
Thank you so much for this Ann!
I agree with Ann, above. In Covid-times, I am grateful when I find a new Growing Mercy poem in my inbox — the cure for what ails a person. Thank you, Stephen. Your writing strengthens the spirit.
Thank you kind Linda! That means a lot!
Precisely what the doctor ordered! A beautiful balm for the spirits, most welcome.
Thank you Stephen
And thank you Tamara!