Slow Service


Don’t know (want to know) the coffee stain’s
history on white tablecloth
a formal stain in an informal situation
in the eddies events almost create
like doused arguments leaking potential
fire in a café corner.

Or the sun almost singeing your face
with glare (you sparring like a fighter)
and the air has become
a drumbeat of words. Secret messages
from the before you
of tomorrow and today?

Or lost potentials
(the island having risen to become
a continent again subsiding)
such as autographs nearly collected
concerts nearly heard downtown
something imagined nearly conceived.

We wait patiently for the waitress
to clear spent dishes
and lipstick-smeared coffee cups
a napkin become used origami
so we can order over coffee stains
and mark this spot as again having been.