How ! Plenty Vente
this star
bucks patio
snugs to
the cliffs
so you sense
the peril these
climbers must
suffer at the
various degrees
of difficulty
I take the last
table, and sip
my macchiato
from a white
ceramic cup
a tribe of cyclists
in lycra uniform
brakes suddenly
hitches the bikes
to the stand and
lines up for latte
behind him
at the counter
is that Cochise
picking up his
caramel latte is
it Chief Joseph
size vente that corp-
orate starbucks
word for biggest
not Italian not
English but
that’s
Crazy Horse
now looking for
a location I
shift my body
try to prevent
his intrusion but
suddenly he’s
in front of me
nodding at the
free seat and I
with my con-
ditioned grac-
iousness over
turn my hand
and offer him
the place as if
it’s mine
he set-
tles I can not
look at him
opaque
his dark eyes
mask constellations
with lost names
his fierce mouth
takes the rim of his
vente glass tips then
drinks then lowers
it to the table
in a hand fraught
with silver rings
the moustache
of whitish foam
across his upper lip
creates my urge
to reach out to him
and wipe it off but
that might be too fam-
iliar I worry so
I don’t and then
he licks his own lip and
almost smiles at me
he is half way through
the latte and in
no hurry we listen
to the climbers
discuss their ascents
the cyclists mount
and hit their road
“Today,” he suddenly
speaks to me, “Is
a good day”
