JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

There we were

on the other side of the world

two graying conspirators

searching

in this tiny pharmacy

for a bottle

of intimate moisturizer

 

Laughing

at the way

the prim pharmacist

shook her head

when we timidly

pronounced the word

the American way

 

Asking us whether

we meant

Vaseline or Vegemite

 

Or was it perhaps

the name of the

manufacturer?