I thought I saw Jesus
at the CVS mulling over
Band-Aids. I wanted
to approach and speak
of my tremendous
sufferings, but look, how
could I do that after all
he’s been through?

Instead I paid for my pills,
and sat in my minivan
waiting for Jesus
to emerge but he never did.
Old people, many mothers,
once or twice a man,
emerged holding onto
their white bags as if they were
filled with gold.

Beret Skorpen-Tifft lives in Maine with her husband Rick, eight-year-old son Rye, and six-year-old daughter Tess. She earned an MFA in fiction from Vermont College. She works for a nonprofit agency and runs long distance. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Louisville Review, Passages North, The Sow's Ear, Red Owl Magazine, Literary Mama, and Autumn Sky. One of her poems was included in the anthology Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory. She has been a contributor to Maine Things Considered.