Photography © Jaime Diaz Martinez

 

neutering

his eyebrows are an upside-down triangle above his mask:
what you got that screen up for? he says.
you tryna stop me from hitting you? well
let me tell you, if I wanted to hit you, I could!
you’d know if I was tryna hit you, sunshine!
DUMF –
he smacks the screen on the counter
and it wobbles,
giving your view of the store
a ripple effect –
see? he says. flimsy as fuck, that is!

actually, it’s really solid, you say, sounding impressed.
can’t believe you managed to make it shake that hard!

oh, he says
and now the triangle of his eyebrows
is pointing up in surprise. thanks. yeah. well.
I try to get some time in on the bags at the gym,
he shrugs. you know, few times a week at least.

fair enough, you say. so can I help you with anything?

what? oh, nah, nah, he walks backwards,
his big manly hands up. just gonna have a browse, thanks

and off he goes,
plodding up aisle 3,
looking a bit a lost
even though he’s clearly in
aisle 3.

 

Paul Tanner has been earning minimum wage, and writing about it, for too long. His collection, Shop Talk: Poems for Shop Workers, was released last year by Penniless Press. No Refunds: Poems and cartoons from your local Supermarket is out now from Alien Buddha Press. His star sign is libido. His hobbies include bombing, looting and colouring in.

Jaime Diaz Martinez is originally from Los Angeles, California. He has been residing in Paris for over 30 years. AFter many years of seeing so many photo opportunities passing, he decided to pick up his camera from storage some years back and from that day on the camera has been held over his left shoulder ready to come across fleeting or ephemeral street scenes. For Martinez Being able to photograph Paris streets is a unique opportunity, a city with fifty shades of grey or just heaven.