Large Salad

when a couple arrives

at the black register

I sit behind

they generally ask a few questions

the one I always seem to hear

"How big is your large salad?"

the first few times I was asked

I imagined the leafy pile of green

freckled with colorful carrots and callous croutons

and to the best of my ability

recreated its imaginary twin between my two tired hands

something I’ve learned since then

about imaginary objects

is that they rarely satisfy others

or legitimize their creator

after about a week of working there I asked myself

why ask, How big the large salad was?

then one night

the answer found me

between sleep and slumber

between logic and thought

between truth and the opposite of truth

it arrived like a couple at a cash register

and when the day came

where I was asked that question

who's answer pounded on the inside of my closed lips`

I knew how to respond

it’s big enough to split, I said

it’s big enough to split.