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bookstore rises...(version 1)
by Deborah S ReganBookstore rises where a dozen cows mooed
About; a coffee-bar caffeinating the masses
Or is it a singles bar, one drug substituted for the
Harder one? Sleek-haired, the high school group appears
I overhear, fascinated, as an outsider now
These antisceptic tables, chairs; oppressive, gaudy Christmas
Arrangements or tableau. Ten male fixtures
Stand reading, their hip muscles shifting weight from
One thirty second period to the next
A question solidifies itself in speech, my head alive with
Vicious bacteria; then
Some immaculate Divine clutches fingers together
With his; She is dating that? Gross sign
For me; what monster will escort me to all tomorrow's
Bookstores in the mists of other evenings?
Now, a Frenchman winks from behind his consummate peers, his thighs
Balancing themselves so aptly on the walnut shelf; he deftly bends
His tuxedo-enfolded arm in invitation, then fox-trots me towards the check-out
My rescue, he caresses my hair in French fashion,
Accompanies the coffee, transfigures
All, we fly at last toward the black ribbon of the night highway
Without the previous shades of discouragement.
01/05/2002 Posted on 01/05/2002
Copyright © 2025 Deborah S Regan
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