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Quiet Place, Simple Menu
by Ken HarnischSeek you saccharin and sentiment in this café
I would turn you aside, gentle traveler
And direct you across the street, where
Madmen play their bass guitars and jesters sing
Their lives away till the constabulary comes
At four AM and locks the riotous doors.
No, this is not an unhappy place;
Not by any means;
Some brooding bistro of the intellect
Where the cigarette smoke
Whirls in lazy patterns, to be shredded in the fans
That slice the air like horizontal guillotines
Actually, we do quite nicely here
A book, a beer, a poet’s metered voice
Being our only fare.
We sell smiles, too;
A hug when it is needed, and/or asked for
(No charge for the hug, by the way)
But what we do disdain
Are queasy lapses into hoary verse
And danced around emotions
This is not the Maypole
And we are not children here,
Cavorting to some coy Pied Piper’s flute
Speak your love aloud, and honestly, or else
You can always cross the street.
09/24/2000 Posted on 05/23/2007
Copyright © 2024 Ken Harnisch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Kathleen Wilson on 05/23/07 at 05:31 PM I love that this can be read straightforwardly and be an atmospheric description of preferences and common goals, but even more intensely, and on another level, as a personal metaphor. So much said, with clarity and self-knowledge. |
| Posted by A. Paige White on 05/24/07 at 12:26 AM "And we are not children here,
Cavorting to some coy Pied Piper’s flute
Speak your love aloud, and honestly, or else
You can always cross the street." Bravo!
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| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 06/17/07 at 02:13 PM Remarkable! I go with Paige, "Bravo!" |
| Posted by Kate Demeree on 06/20/07 at 02:10 PM Every bit of this is wonderful, and touches deep, but I think that this is my favorite line "Speak your love aloud, and honestly, or else
You can always cross the street. ".... WOW....
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