2nd Place Poetry Contest Winner: ​My Grandmother is Dead and I’m Standing in Line to Buy Chicken - Elise Powers

because what else is there to do but  turn
out the rising grief from your pockets  by
grocery shopping? I wonder if the cashier
can see on my face that someone I love
is gone. (and what I mean is how could
he not?)
Four by four by four, I study the tiles
on the floor— unremarkable squares
of beige and gray, laid out so neatly
that I wonder  if they might just offer
me an answer. Ridiculous. Almost
hateful, really, how the world keeps
spinning, how the checkout line moves
forward, how there’s still dinner to
make tonight, though nothing tastes
​like it did before.