INVITATION TO DARKNESS:

A bright Red woman makes a stand against winter drab

(K)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN:

Now this is weird,
The man who used to be young produces an empty peanut bag,
And starts stuffing newspaper into it,
The bag’s too small,
But he keeps on stuffing,
The bag splits,
But he can’t stop

(K)

MY FRIEND THE SAUSAGE:

Young men still wear beards around here,
I tried that once,
It made me itch,
I fiddled with my face for years

(K)

UNEXPECTED GIFT:

A man who used to be young,
Ties his hair back in a tiny knot on the back of his head,
Like a peanut

(K)

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME:

You get up and leave the table,
Then the room,
The door makes the sound of a wining dog,
The waiter wants my signature,
I feel cornered,
Alone,
With just enough to be polite,
The piano player’s playing in the other room,
Everyone is happy

(K)

HALO:

When we came to go you asked,
“Should I leave a tip?”
Which said a lot,
As you had been a waitress,
I knew the seriousness of the question,
And asked what you were thinking,
“Not” you said,
With experience on your side,
We waited for the waiter’s back to be turned,
And slipped out into the night

(K)

IN THE GARDEN:

Was the food safe?
Or did he give a sign to the kitchen?
Plates appeared,
Through a small hatch festooned in photographs,
Of men in hats stuck with feathers dancing,
Like a shrine,
Had we stumbled through a hole in time?

(K)

TRUE LOVE:

The waiter had a natural gift for averting his eyes,
Every time I tried to attract his attention,
But eventually relented,
And took our order,
Cracked loosely veiled jokes with every flick of his pencil,
The room was loaded,
Faces bloated,
Like paintings on velvet of clowns

(K)

NORF AN SAAF:

Young men in hats with feathers burst in,
And danced between the tables,
Out of time to an accordion,
Everyone clapped along and smiled,
We thought it was awful,
Soulless,
But none the less,
They passed the hat,
Like a scene from a Hammer Horror

(K)

WORLD WAR:

The waiter had attitude,
Didn’t he?
I mean,
It wasn’t like that the last time we were there,
Was it?
But this time,
It felt positively hostile

(K)