The shopping horror begins
when you enter the mall,
brushing snow off the shoulders
of your parka, stamping slush
off your boots
to be assailed by beach towels
cotton summer wear
and lawn furniture.
But this unseasonably warm year,
barely past the first week of spring
the same luscious display
soothes the same shopper
who, in shorts and T-shirt,
is for once in sync.
How sweet it is
just once to enter a store
that is selling
what do you want to buy
when you want to buy it.
As for the brothers,
if they are wearing shorts and T-shirts,
they too
are in luck
—best laid plans of evil store managers
to the contrary.
How they must fume!
