April Salzano
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Softsoap® Soldier
My six-year-old soldier
has come seeking Softsoap, in search
of sanitizer, any brand, but Purell or
Germ-X would be ideal. He is convinced
that the people at the municipal building
must have some pretty good options
hiding in the locked restrooms, or
they wouldn’t be locked.
He turns every knob, pushes on each door,
peers in windows, demanding
entrance. He stands at the flagpole,
seems to salute, takes a leak and considers
climbing up. I wonder why
he can’t count cards in Vegas
instead of obsessing over personal
hygiene products. He makes his way
to the front door. I am confident
in my refrain: it’s locked. No one
is here. If I have
said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times.
Access!
A few paces behind, damn
he’s quick, I hear him voicing
his demands to a few seated grey beards.
Softsoap!
Sanitizer!
Go pee?
His eyes scan the room
for the possibility of doorways.
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April Salzano teaches college writing in Pennsylvania and is currently working on a memoir on raising a child with autism along with several collections of poetry. Her work has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Award and has appeared in journals such as The Camel Saloon, Centrifugal Eye, Deadsnakes, Visceral Uterus, Salome, Poetry Quarterly, Writing Tomorrow and Rattle. Her first chapbook, The Girl of My Dreams, is forthcoming in spring 2015 from Dancing Girl Press. The author serves as co-editor at Kind of a Hurricane Press (www.kindofahurricanepress.com).