Episode 7: Southern Gentleman Thing

Southern Gentlemen Thing

Each head turns in a small North Carolina town
As I pull my truck
A Toyota pick up
Between two fords in a grocery store lot
And with a snap of New England productivity
Not the click
Of southern gentleness
Head on my way to shop

And though everyone I see
Greats me with a smile and a wave
When I walked down the grocery store aisle
I can only imagine their whispered conversations
About the implant New Englander
Who stole the heart of the only good girl their boys
Had chance with
As I try to figure out the difference between
Cream of Wheat and Grits

If I make a joke to the cashier
She'll take it as a sign
That I want to talk for a bit
When really I just want
To drop the pleasantries completely
And come and go
In silence
So the thoughts about these boxes of instant
Don't get meddled by the drawl
My parents say
When I talk to them on the phone a week after moving
I'm picking up

Becky says the new accent is adorable
But when she is silent in the middle of the night
And I am left awake
The moonlight gracing her face
I can't stop but battling between fear
And guilt
The cashier's reaction still clear in my mind
The joke I said
Laced with the sarcasm I grew up speaking
And my apology
Kind
But kept to myself
Still rattling to get loose

"Hun get some rest"
Becky says to me
"They'll love you too"
She holds me and smiles
"Don't worry about Cathy
The cashier
She'll be all right tomorrow
When you go to get the milk
You forgot today."

Each head turns in a small North Carolina town
As I pull my truck
A Toyota pick up
Between two fords in a grocery store lot
And with a
Click
They all smile
Maybe I am learning this
Southern gentlemen thing

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• poetry

[pegasustrio]

I love North Carolina. people are really nice here. there is nothing sexier than a southern gentlemen, a real one. cant understand this man either, yankees nearly ruined florida and now the half backs are coming. set up a moritorium before its too late.

[connorr221]

iabornc shutup and quit trying to act smart

[pwh03172]

WOW you are Cute!!!.....Id love to be able to really understand what you are saying

[iabhornc]

(cont.) Right you are when you say they are changing the culture, but they are not the only ones. The obnoxious Mexicans (and other problematic minorities) that keep moving down there are also to blame. NC used to be more decent, but now it is owned (as in dominated by): rednecks, preppies, college morons, mexicans, sick-in-the-head people, and 99.9% assholes who act as if they own (as in a personal belonging) the ground it is they're on. NC is a major battlezone.

[iabhornc]

Tell me about it. The problem with the Northerners that keep moving to NC is exactly that (the ones that keep coming). Most of the ppl. from up North that come here are all from New York City and the surrounding area. NYC and the NC basically have the same kind of people. In NYC you have as many southerners up there as you do down here. I can't stand NYC for many reasons, and the fact it is infested w/ southerners is one of them...

[iabhornc]

LOL! Not as much as everyone else hates you.

[jrussel0]

get the fuck out you stupid yankee fuck. everybody hates you, your loud mouth women and your little obnoxius faggot ass little boys that call themselves men, fuck you!!!

[icecold360]

i find it funny how yanks come down to the south and complain about how horrible it is. weren't they the ones who came down here in the first place. also the Carolinians may not say it to your face but they probably don't like that your down here either. north carolinas changing so much because yanks come down hear to live and in the process change the culture. i hope that we never become another florida!

[iabhornc]

(cont.) They call ppl. (like me) "hatemongers" when look who's talking. Then, all these nauseating relocated morons want to come/move down here. Then, in the process these freaks (the dumbasses nobody likes where they come from) go around complaining about how they had "no friends" in the North. With the way they behave even I would run away from them in the North. Hell, I run away from them even down here. I could go on and on but I'll leave it here.

[iabhornc]

(cont.) It can't be resolved in a calm and civilized manner. Tough actions for ppl. who supposedly are "well mannered". They are nosey, they lie, they think their place is so f-ing great. Anybody in other than the south who thinks southerners are "nicer" is gullible. You are bound to fall for their 2-faced attitude. They can take UNC and thier nauseating branches and shove them to where the sun don't shine. If they are so "nice", then why do they discriminate?