cupcakes
by John Grochalski
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the staff workers at the adult group home
made cupcakes for the people at my job
chocolate icing cupcakes with yellow batter
and a candy heart stuck into the top
but no one here will eat them
everyone thinks the residents at the group home
made the cupcakes instead of the workers
maybe the guy who sits in here all day
and laughs at his own farts
or the one who screams for no reason
and throws books while slobbering on himself
there’s no fooling us on this one
so the cupcakes are going untouched
like the cupcakes from last year went untouched
until someone mercifully threw them away
it’s kind of sad, really
the staff at the group home made them for us
because of the pinhead who shits herself
because of the old man who won’t stop stroking his cock
it’s their way of saying thanks
and apologizing at the same time
still, there are five chocolate cupcakes uneaten
leprous confections abandoned in a staff room
where i once watched a co-worker lick a doughnut box dry
i got really upset thinking about the cupcakes
on my walk the next morning
i told myself that when i got to work
i was going to eat all of the cupcakes
every single one of them, all five
but when i got there the cupcakes were gone
the tin pan turned upside down in the garbage
with chocolate cupcakes scattered and smashed
a few candy hearts crushed on the floor
as evidence of our annual tradition
so i went into my office and had an apple
like i do every morning
i read the online news
while someone bitched to someone else
about the weather
and how we never had anything good to eat
in this rotten place.
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