She is at your favorite diner,
& Denny’s & Steak Haus,
& 99 Restaurant, enthusiastic,
scritch-scratching an old-school
note pad with a smile at every request.
Subtly Estée Laudered, she
leans in tight and says, Hon, let me
warm up that coffee for you.
A fourth cup, even though
jitters set in by the usual two,
the Sumatra steam
& Siren up your nose.
Is everything alright?
at the meal’s mid-point.
Her intoxicating palm
pat-pats your shoulders.
She’s got the sizzles for me,
you think, going wheels-up
off runway fantasy,
while she,
in the grease-thick kitchen,
inhales hard
to plead
early leave from this third job,
her feet inferno
&
a deep-chest-cough daughter
feverish at home with grandma,
who’s eager to check out, too.
James “Jim” Washington, Jr. is grateful for each head-spark of a possible poem. His poetry has appeared in Obsidian, Bloodroot Literary Magazine, Rattle, The Book of Jobs: Poems About Work, Main Street Rag, RavensPerch, and more. Jim received Dartmouth’s 2024 thesis excellence award for his poetry collection, Riding Shotgun.
