Sonnet to Joe’s Sunoco

Gregg Sapp
No Crime in Rhymin’
Oct 3, 2024

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1950s Sunoco gas station grand opening event, black and white photo
Sunoco Station 1954/ Ross Dunn — CC 2.0

On Main Street, near the rural county line,
off the grand avenue of storefront rows,
where sidewalk ends at the ‘come again’ sign,
was the orphan block, home to Dirty Joe’s.
The station housed a shop, a single bay,
two pumps, alley parking, dented dumpsters,
engine parts strewn in chaotic display,
and oil rainbow puddles ‘neath clogged gutters.
Past Joe’s office, posters of nude women,
with coins in hand, on tiptoes I crept down
to the rank men’s room, my purpose given:
there, the only condom machine in town.
Purchase achieved, I ‘d scamper in flight,
but Joe would sneer, “Hey kid, have a good night.”

Gregg SAPP is the author of the “Holidazed” series of satirical novels.

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Gregg Sapp
No Crime in Rhymin’

Gregg Sapp is author of the Johnny Appleseed novel, "Fresh News Straight from Heaven" and the Holidazed satires, the latest being "Mother Fracking Earth Day."