BRAND LOYALTY. By M.J. Arcangelini

He told me that when they

moved into the dead man’s 

cabin up on Gardner Ridge,

way the hell out of town,

the de facto shelves of the

open 2x4s of the inside walls

were lined with empty

Old Overholt bottles.

Not a Jack Daniels, Jim Beam,

or I.W. Harper in sight,

just Old Overholt.

Years’ worth, decades’ worth.

Displayed all around the

old guy’s cabin like the antidote

to a grandmother’s collection

of Hummel figurines.

Such sustaining brand loyalty

impressed me and the next time

I was in the State Store I asked

for a bottle of the stuff to find

out what the old guy saw in it.

Even though I was a bourbon man,

I was not disappointed.

That rye was warm and went down like

fine sandpaper buffing a redwood burl.

While I wasn’t about to give up

my bourbon, I could definitely

see the old guy’s point, so

I dedicated that bottle to him.

And all the ones that followed.

M.J. (Michael Joseph) Arcangelini, born 1952 in western Pennsylvania, has resided in northern California since 1979. He began writing poetry at 11. He has published in a lot of little magazines and online journals, including lilliput: The Ekphrastic Review, The Gasconade Review, Live Nude Poems, As It Ought To Be Magazine, Trailer Park Quarterly, Rusty Truck. his work appears in over a dozen anthologies.  He is the author of five collections: “With Fingers at the Tips of My Words” 2002, Beautiful Dreamer Press, “Room Enough” 2016, “Waiting for the Wind to Rise” 2018, both from NightBallet Press, “What the Night Keeps” 2019, Stubborn Mule Press, and “A Quiet Ghost,” Luchador Press 2020. In 2018 Arcangelini was nominated for a Pushcart Prize