Tag Archives: Writing

Coffee Shop Table

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Scratched by

Students
Grandparents
Babies
Siblings
Lovers
Silverware
Coins
Coffee cups and plates
Books
Papers
Pens
Arguments
Decisions
Creating
Erasing
Sharing
Spills
Musings

Used by those

Wise
Wicked
Innocent
Deluded
Ignorant
Mad
Rushed
Focused

Works with

Smiles
A soft word
Can I take your order?
More coffee?
Here is your check
A hand over the loose change

Existing for another

Shift
Day
Year
Lifetime
Commercial lease
Refurbishment

Cleaned and cleaned again
Old wood pattern
Medium tan
Off white
Reflections of the ceiling lights on the scratches
Lines and curves
Heads tilt one way then another to see the next story
Shiny pictures of experience
Different wrinkles of age
More tales of years past
Another song from the road
A bard for dining patrons

Closing time
The owner presses the switch
Looks around
Sighs
Walks outside
Locks up
No more stories until morning’s light
Quiet
Late night waiting for the first rush of the day

Coffee shop table

We are its props in the play of life

Downtown Train

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You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
Ready to go to see my friends
I waited for an hour
Twelve trains
Sixty commercials
A billboard change
I thought of you every turnstile open
Each announcement
All conductor calls
Long-haired girls of about your height
Lonely minutes with quiet nothing

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
No answered calls to your cell
I see reflections of you inside the train on the other platform
  dressed in their uptown clothes
I lean against the white tile wall
Arms outstretched
Fingernails scratching into the grout
Feeling the wind on my face
From the train that should be ours

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
That knot in my stomach which I haven’t felt since before I knew you
  ties my hope
The station clock does not slow
Does not stop
I’m going to find you five blocks away
You will tell me it was just a silly thing
  in the voice you use when you know that I’m worried
We will go to the corner deli for two coffees in paper cups
  and walk through Central Park to Strawberry Fields
Where we will be still
And hold hands

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
I must go look for you now
Until I find you
Or you find me
My heart will still be here
Waiting for our train
Looking forward to seeing my friends
With you

Orchard

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Sunset reflecting from your cheek
Onto our red wine

Last week there was snow here
But, that was a different here

Other lovers on distant shores
Do not concern us

The tree behind us wakens and greets the season
With green and gold

Our world ends at the edge of your blanket
On the grass by the still lake

Your eyes reflect my want and desire

Our world ends at the edge of our touch

I waken the stillness in me
We are two beings in our own orchard

Flowers opening
Apples growing

The sweet taste of the harvest
A winter of the soul

The season’s opening of our hearts
A budding of love in the still cool early spring

We see each others eyes
Reflected in a glass of red wine

Snowlight

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Winter calls us to our mountain
Just you and I
A few cold white months in our year
The low sun has a pale glow

Dinner with your favorite wine
Just you and I
Warm pie and hot cider are there
The roof protects us from the snow

We’ve settled by the fireplace
Just you and I
Laughter and smiles forever near
Always yes, we say, never no

Resting under a wool blanket
Just you and I
I stroke your face, sleep now, my dear
Let’s think of tomorrow, just so

Shoreline

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Fog protects me from the heat of your stare
I struggle to keep pace with the ground cloud’s movement
Lest I be exposed

Water surrounds me
Walking barefoot in the surf
Over clamshells and smooth stones

Rolling waves from the horizon send
Whitecaps flowing through my toes

Yesterday I saw your face
Flushed red with sorrow
Accusing eyes reflected my own turbulent sea

I had tried to tiptoe through your world
But I am clumsy and I broke your shell

Morning mist hides my shame

The fog lifts
The surf recedes
I see my shadow on the sand outlining hot sorrow
So now I must go into the brown grasslands

My back burns from your gaze

Moving towards the forest
I clean the sand from my feet
And dry off my tears

I walk the muddy bank of a narrowing river towards a distant rise
A stream up a hill
A brook up a mountain
Touching the waters that flow to you

I climb to the top and turn around
Straining to see your shoreline beyond the horizon

Imagining your cooling anger
And knowing myself a fool

Sleeping inside a morning mist
And dreaming of your beautiful shell
I will stay until all my seas have turned to clouds
And I can hide no more