the shop on the corner

the fluorescent-floored corner shop sparkles and flickers, linoleum-lined.
eastern face, western voice; one that soothes as it stutters; the comforting kind.
the barking radio bites, blinking neon.
ons and offs, chokes and coughs.
feast your eyes. squint up at sickly sweets;
oozing, squelching, turquoise eyeballs,
chopped red liquorice limbs.
this dot-to-dot, coloured in by children
blinks and shakes
as though the plug is sagging in its socket,
the ariel is nervous, wagging in the wind.
buzzing bright-bulb gutters,
chatter-boxing fades away,
veiled in grey.