Pharmacy Line

The warmth started, sudden and too intimate,

just inside my nostril. That old, familiar feeling.

Then the drip, slow and deliberate,

down to my lip. A quiet, crimson stealing

into the public air. The pharmacy line stretched,

people shifted weight, checking their phones.

No tissue. My hand, instinctively, reached

up, catching it. A quick, coppery tone

filled the space around me, or so it felt.

My face, I could feel it, getting hot.

Just stand still. Don't move. Don't melt.

Pretend it's nothing, what you've got.