June 29th, 1980
3 a.m.
and I'm getting older by the minute.
Thinking about it makes me tired.
Outside traffic crawls slowly over
slippery pavement like inebriated turtles.
Inside, at the coffee counter,
I flirt with a waitress-fresh young fruit from Montreal.
She insists on calling me Vincent Price
and speaking French in Alberta.
I'm trying to read Periods of the Moon,
by Irving Layton, selecting the human
condition, repetition, and insomnia as
my main themes.
Next to me, a street gypsy drooping
over the counter beside me, pulling
scraps of dog-eared aged newsprint
from a doggie bag. She stares
squint eyed at a picture of John F Kennedy
for two hours, manages to laugh an incredible 29 times, sorry, 30 times, 31.
Counting makes me tired,
makes me take notice of this gypsy
and disapprove.
Coffee Time, Fuller's Restaurant (Edmonton Alberta Canada)
- Dated 1980
Michael Lee Johnson lives in Chicago, IL after spending 10 years in Edmonton, Alberta Canada during the Viet Nam era. He is a freelance writer and poet. He is heavy influenced by Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, and Leonard Cohen. His recent book, The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom (2007) is available on iUniverse and Amazon.com.