An Arctic blast freezes my face—
wind hissing snow sideways
into darkness.
I tug my Merino beanie over my ears
as wind shoves me toward the buildings.
Fluorescent lights glow behind glass,
figures move inside.
My gloves slip on the metal door
until someone pushes from the other side.
Warmth and the welcome smell
of microwaved taquitos
hit me in the corner market.
Glass fogs as I peer out at slick streets,
black sky shedding white.
I buy cheese doodles.
My jaw crunches—
fingers turning neon orange.
You’re cooking something “healthy” tonight,
and I’m ruining it with doodles
you would never touch.
We met four months ago
on a MARTA train.
I fell into your dark-olive eyes.
You talked about developing code
for a tech company.
I had trouble charging my phone.
“Tech” had me hooked.
Lights flicker.
People scroll weather apps,
fidgeting.
My mouth goes cheese-doodle dry.
I buy a Diet Coke.
“Now that’s some death in a can,”
I can hear you say.
“The kind that strips car paint.”
Getting to you was never about roads—
never about snow.
It was about me.
I text you from the Ding Dong aisle:
“Kate, I’m stuck.”
In the store.
In my Ding Dong-obsessed head.
Stuck is what I do
to dodge entanglements like you.
“Stay safe,” you write.
Or maybe: stay away.
In truth, it all stopped working
for me weeks ago.
The QT is now a shelter
to five strangers and a clerk
in various stages of snackdom.
Kit Kats, Flaming Hot Doritos,
Kettle Chips, Bagel Bites—
an apocalyptic food orgy.
I buy the Ding Dongs,
open the door and head home.
Alaska weather invades Georgia,
where we don’t do storms well.
I don’t do relationships well anywhere.
I hold tight to my Ding Dongs—
like they’re going to save me.
Laura DeHart Young
Laura DeHart Young writes poems shaped by humor, love, grief, and things that don’t fit neatly in boxes—including herself. Her work has appeared in The Raven’s Perch, The Bluebird Word, Last Leaves Magazine, and The Eunoia Review. She’s the author of seven LGBTQ+ fiction novels and a lifelong fan of walking at night, snack food and diet soda, and urban adventure. She lives with her wife in Atlanta.