(casual poem while waiting at the prescription store)

As I sit there with my prescription
In an old pharmacy store in London
In wait, my gaze follows the patterns
Of someone I know from an old time
Question I myself of those patterns
As days question the nights
What is it there that I see from a distance?
Four corners and a narrow alley,
A room filled with cabinets and people
Surrounded by inventions and cures
In neat arrangements, like soldiers
As these perform those functions
Some near and some in distance

As I sit there with my prescription
Amidst BMA booklets and simpkins boxes
As the skin doctors hurl their way
As the perfect ten nails come out
From chaos and abstraction
There lies a shelf with aromatherapy
With dietrim and Anadin, the old cure
With boxes full and protected
With Imigran recovery procedures
As the frontline and Blackman create
The old effect, the old procedures
As the staff work and guards gaze

The person behind the scenes
From one cure to another, relentless
In its routine and in its function
With omega oils and supplements
As the Aloe Vera marks its presence
And the old lutein drama plays out
As the songs get an audience
Old and new, the famous characters
As I sit there with my prescription!

Kashkin