Coffee

Love is the man in the corner of the café

Reading his paper

Without looking up.

Our eyes will meet once in a while, but

He always drops

His gaze.

I think I have been here before, in this bedroom,

I’ve seen these red curtains in a dream.

Your lips spill down my neck like

Words I once knew

A language I’ve forgotten.

You say my name,

And it comes back to me.

My dad moved to the mountains

And didn’t say goodbye.

He tells me about the girls he’s found

How sure she is different.

Across the room, Love shuffles his paper

Keeps his eyes down

Shakes his head.

I hold the receiver and ask her name.

You like it when I say your name.

It’s a whisper, it’s a gasp

It is a question that I can’t find the words to finish.

The sand meets the sea over and over but lets it go

Over and over

Before it can find the words

To ask it to stay.

Somewhere far away, a barista calls my name.

A man looks up from his newspaper,

His eyes follow me across the room.

I let the distance sit like steaming coffee

As I ask him if he will stay.

He speaks words I once knew

A language I’ve forgotten

That is coming back to me.