POETRY 
"how our conversations at the cash register
always made me feel better."
                               Photo by Weebly.com                                    

For Sam at Pharmaca
by Karen Marker

When I came in for Juice Beauty, Cleansing Milk
Age Defying Moisturizer, more lip balm, Breathe Easy
Eucalyptus Mint Tea and your advice on vitamins--
anything that could help arthritis, headaches, UTIs,
high blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol--
you found me just the right fix of elixirs
but most of all what I took away from Pharmaca
for free was your kindness, your story,
how our conversations at the cash register
always made me feel better.
 
You wore the name Samuel pinned to your shirt,
told me it was Sam for short. I asked who raised
you to be so nice, smiling all day—despite the long
commute you didn’t complain or quit—like being here
was the best thing you could do. You said
it must have been your mother, they called her iron leg
because she just jumped up to help. And the farm
in Oklahoma, always so much to keep you busy,
out with the animals, that land for growing. 
You brought it with you to your work in Oakland.
 
When we talked I knew the happiness of digging
in dirt, putting down roots, a plant in rich earth
in those states with wide open O’s that brought
into life the products I bought. How good it was
to feel related. And now what will happen
when the store shuts down in two weeks
because Pharmaca’s been sold? It’s becoming
Walgreens, with no promises about what’s next. 
Still you’re here today, showing up
for another lovely morning. 
 
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​Karen Marker submits poems to Rattle’s Poets Respond (to the news) and reads this poetry on the open mic with RattleCast. This past May she was a featured reader for Rivertown Poets out of Petaluma. Karen was honored to win first place prize for an essay, “Ruth in the Redwoods,” in the 2021 Keats Soul Making contest and that one of her poems was chosen to be in the Kent State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives. Karen is also grateful that she had the opportunity to work with the Young Writers Program through Santa Cruz’s Cornerstone Project, and to work with so many talented poets through PandaPoets and through OLLI including Kathleen McClung, Diane Frank and Jannie Dresser.
Other works in this issue:
Poetry: 
​Jacob's Ladder​
Epigenetic Memory


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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
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​Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  ​volunteer staff.