Paul Hadella is an Oregon teacher, journalist and songwriter. His creative writing has been published in many places over the years, most recently a short story in the latest issue of Nebo.

Paul Hadella

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Consumer Hell

It's the blue aisle
at the center of an imperfect world.

A couple is lost there,
calling each other "asshole."

The music in the background
softly devastates reality.

That's her kid in the cart,
doing violence to their coupon book.

His kid lives with its mother,
eighty miles up the U.S. freeway.