Antacids and Laxatives

“I don’t even do laundry” by Madison Huffman

for Matthew Dickman

The pharmacist assures me my prescription
will be ready soon but it’s a waiting game for now, 
so I lean against the antacids and laxatives 
to read poetry about young loves and public parks and French films.
I once let a girl climb atop my skinny frame
in the passenger seat as we sat parked in some cul-de-sac
between mansions under construction on a hill
overlooking San Antonio, but that wasn’t love
and we certainly weren’t in Paris and nothing much happened
anyway, startled as we were by the blinding headlights
swerving up the lane, zooming to a cold dinner
or a bit of television after ten hours of important meetings
and phone calls. We descended the paved hill, I to years of chastity
and reading novels beneath the broken promises 
of shade trees and public water fountains. 
Oh, the pharmacist just called my name.
If a chemist were to ever get the concoctions just right,
I’d fill prescriptions for imposter syndrome, religious zealotry,
unfulfilled dreams. And others for false generalizations, 
cruel assumptions, distrust of my neighbors. 
Surely there’s a market for such pills. It can’t be just me.
I can’t be the only one with habits to kick,
unsettled beliefs, flutterings of adolescence dissolving 
among checkout lines, price tags, receipts.

About the author

Ben Groner III is the author of the poetry collection Dust Storms May Exist (Madville Publishing), winner of the 2024 American Fiction Award for Religious Poetry, and named the Best Poetry Collection of 2024 by The Nashville Scene. His work has been published in Whale Road Review, GASHER, South Carolina Review, Rust & Moth, and elsewhere. He once spent a year road-tripping around the United States and puttering around South America.

about the artist

Madi - born a multifaceted creative, has been juggling any medium she can get her hands on and exploring many avenues of the art world. She has the belief that all things are possible if you put in the work. Therefore, she is not setting limits on what is possible, and always urging others to reach for the stars. She has pursued art since she was the tiny age of four when her parents would say that, “she was born with a pencil in hand.”

Exploring many various mediums, exposing herself to a range of art along the way, and learning from multitalented artists and teachers, she has found her stride in painting as of late.