Easter at Al Qaeda Bodega

At the gold speckled counter, my
pal in white apron --
index finger tapping his Arabic paper,
where the body count dwarfs the one in my Times -- announces,
You’re killing my people.

But in Hell’s Kitchen, even the
Antichrist ought to have coffee -- one cream
and two sugars. Blessings
upon you, he says, and means it.


-- Mary Karr, from Sinners Welcome, HarperCollins, 2006