He’s doing it all
right,
this ritual of Poetry Writing.
From my uncomfortably functional wooden chair,
two sugary tables away from his,
I sense his indents, his stanza drops, his fear.
He’s doing it all
right:
the bead of sweat on his upper lip, the concentrated stare
at the line he’s just written,
the white-knuckled clutch on his three-dollar Uniball.
And now we play the Eye Game,
where we cast shoplifter glances
at each other’s flying pens,
our legal pads become blue-lit runways.
Antigua beans roasting
invigorate us; we are exhilarated and the battle begins.
Nostrils flared, he sweats; I tease.
I’ll show you mine
if you show me yours
but I never show strange men any
more
than the inside of my thighs
and my grandmother’s ruby Rosary beads.
Jungle vines twist around the glass-encased pastries,
bell jars over bat-winged butterflies.
The sound of native drumming is closer now,
the humidity unbearable ….
and when he rises
from his own uncomfortably functional wooden chair,
I set my pen down
to watch
as he puts on his poet-appropriate
faded bomber jacket and stained backpack.
Dropping a twisted white napkin near my feet,
he opens the door quietly and disappears
into the night, taking the jungle with him, but leaving me
with poem in hand,
victorious.
Poet Laureate of New Bedford, Massachusetts from 2014 to 2021, author and playwright Patricia Gomes is published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Gomes is the author of four poetry chapbooks. She is Pushcart Prize nominee (2008, 2018 and 2021) as well as a 5-time Rhysling Science Fiction Award nominee. https://www.facebook.com/patg305/