The aroma of cooking oil hits as we pull
into the parking lot and pass customers
walking out with slabs of lamb and pork,
custom bundles of frog legs, in-house
country hams and hams from around the world.

We head for the biscotti on the discount shelf,
push our cart down aisles of sauces, frozen dinners,
and find a half-price key lime pie for the holiday.
We compliment the produce manager on
the samples of local raspberries

and linger before tables and tables of baked goods:
eight-pound jam cakes with caramel icing made from scratch
and Grandma Opal’s Chocolate Truffle Cake Bomb.
Maybe next week we’ll eat at Butch’s Grill:
home style fried chicken and hush puppies

with mashed potatoes and green beans.
The cashier compares the herbs she rings up
with those in her garden and the fellow
behind us explains how he likes to cut his beaten
biscuits, butter them or eat them with ham.