Eltz Castle

Combo

Portrait

Fleeing for the Hills

Burger Manor

Ginkgo Leaves

Doha, Qatar

Writing at the Coffee Shop

“Writing at the Coffee Shop”

in this roomful of noise,

the words come and go,

conversations mingle table to table, with piped-in music—

buying coffee in its endless combinations,

trying to catch the servers

with substitutes for milk and substitutes for sugar

and substitutes for coffee—

every bite every sip suggests

some other word

(some older world, with calories with fats with caffeine)—

the offerings are actors upon a stage

presenting a performance of a sleepy trucker

at a diner counter warming his hands

around a battered mug—

today, what is the wi-fi?

where is the outlet?

is the internet down?

the desk is a tiny round table

cluttered with cups and crumbs,

I type