I fancy myself a word alchemist, the college essay term for poet.
Here are poems that I wrote today while at work:
Work Repetition
“Inside or outside?”
I ask this question a hundred times a day
with the same plastic smirk.
My voice strained from projecting
over the poor acoustic renditions of songs
I hoped to forget.
“Inside or outside?” I ask again.
They stand confused,
staring at each other.
This is the life changing decision, you know:
whether to dine inside or outside.
No one in their party cares or makes a decision.
“I guess outside,” they say.
I gather menus and take them to the table.
“Can we sit by the rail?”
Time slows and my thoughts race with anger.
No, you can’t sit by the rail.
No, you can’t sit in another server’s section.
Why?
Because this server needs money, too.
This server has kids, a wife, a husband, a boyfriend,
a girlfriend, rent, bills, school, and a car to pay for.
They get money per table which won’t happen
when people try to find
in which part of the joint the food tastes better.
If this place was on open seating,
I wouldn’t be here.
So I take them to their desired table
and walk back to the host desk heated.
I force a smirk at the group before me.
“Inside or outside?”
October Morning
Swaying with the wind,
the ocean looks like a field
of glinting sapphires.
The clear sky gives the sun free reign
to bring warmth offset by a
chilling breeze bringing light moods
and smiles.
Trees move their branches
in a solitary dance.
Then the hanging heaters buzz on
and steal my cool.
Seagulls at Sunset
What does the gull think about
as it flies in a sunset sky,
swirling through the amber yellows
and pinkish oranges?
I wonder if it thinks
the navy waters
no longer have shallows,
or if it gets annoyed
at the shoreline flashing
from the humans trying,
in vain,
to capture nature’s beauty
for themselves.
As purple night presses
the light below the horizon,
does the gull know the way home?
