Paul David Adkins 

Florida Man Hangs Giant Toilet Paper Roll in Yard During Pandemic

And, still, no one has enough.

Everyone laughs, almost. It’s a sign of our times:

a ten-foot-thick roll of Charmin

strung between his sable palms,

unspooling in the sea breeze.

An old woman totters past with her cart to Publix,

hoping the manager has set aside

a single pack of Scotties,

one cloud of Quilted Northern because

It’s all in the quilting,

Pillowy softness you can see and feel,

and

Love your bum

are real things when you live alone,

when you’re asking your son in Seattle

to mail AngelSoft or Cottonelle,

or whatever he has to spare,

even a single square.

Bio

Paul David Adkins grew up in Florida and chronicled his childhood there in the chapbook The Upside Down House (Yellow Jacket Press). He earned his MFA in Poetry from Washington University.