If Mary Tyler Moore had really lived here

She would have taken a job as a waitress
or maybe something in the more respectable
secretarial/office worker profession;

a real career girl onherwaysomewhereforsuregirl.
She’d save her money, hide it from Rob
in the bottom of the flour canister

because there’s no way he would ever find it,
being interested only in dinner/work/breakfast
/work/sex on demand/sleep/work.

Because she’s patient, she’d bide her time,
wait for that just right moment
when she’d stashed enough money

away then grab the next bus to anywhere,
leave a note for him taped on the fridge;
there’d be no anger – that wouldn’t be like her.

Alex Stolis lives in Hudson Valley, Ny with his partner, the poet Catherine Arra; he has had poems published in numerous journals. Two full length collections Pop. 1280, and John Berryman Died Here were released by Cyberwit and available on Amazon. His work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Piker’s Press, Ekphrastic Review, One Art Poetry, Black Moon Magazine, and Star 82 Review. His chapbook, Postcards from the Knife-Thrower’s Wife, was released by Louisiana Literature Press in 2024, RIP Winston Smith from Alien Buddha Press in 2024, and The Hum of Geometry; The Music of Spheres by Bottlecap Press in 2024.