Costco Fresh Produce Room

Poem by Michelle Wei (‘27)

| SPRING 2023 ISSUE | POETRY

Mom pushes me in the cart

The air, brisk, crisp, and cold

I enter the room as I face the wind

Only that cart with one fruit

The cart and I indulge in the Costco warmth

I could watch Mom face the undesirable

Have I ever faced pain so undesirable

I rode like a fruit in the cart

Waiting for Mom to return to warmth

And I shiver breathlessly in the cold

Lucky to receive more fruit

But in my mind is a hollow and hazardous wind

I stepped into the wind

They feel no pain of my undesirable

But I came to the room for fruit

Against the cold with the cart

Walking and freezing in the cold

I yearn for the warmth

My fingers touch the warmth

Away and away from the wind

Never will I forget the cold

I tell them to face the undesirable

Walking bravely beside the cart

Such agony could transform into fruit

I walk past them with fruit

Rewarding my pain in the warmth

Then, I could push the cart

Seeing them face against the wind

If they could face the undesirable

They stay as long and steady in the cold

I see nostalgia in the cold

Pushing little Michelle like fruit

Little Michelle will never forget the undesirable

And so will I, reaching for the warmth

We together push against the wind

I would be pushing my cart

As love and hunger pull me to warmth,

l always face the wind,

In the Costco Fresh Produce Room, I would be pushing my cart.