Padhraig Nolan's Blog

Monday Poetry : A Cafe Scene





A certain blogging acquaintance came up with the idea of making Monday a sort of rolling poetry day - with a new theme / challenge each week. The idea being to write something quickly and post it equally quickly around about 7pm. This weeks theme was a café scene - here's mine - and you can check out other participants via the comments here.

Diner Dance

each time I come back to this dining place
despite the random peppering of chairs
with varied faces never seen before
the empty ones are always waiting there

some face me while the others coyly skirt
the crooked aisle that makes my walk a dance
these passive partners frozen to the floor
I swing my hips through their feigned nonchalance

foursquare they sit, denying molecules
that whizz and dip and pirhouette inside
that kiddy's blurt of juice, the mother's lift
of eyebrow and her pressure-venting sigh

time and again I touch the wallflower chair
melt one into the other, take the floor
as watchers changed to prey avert their eyes
we turn the tables on the pack once more