MIHI IN ODIO EST

Sleepiness
hangs over
the early morning
coffee shop crowd.

Is it loneliness or
ennui or plain
not giving a damn?

The robin’s egg blue guy
is going to or coming from
a hospital operating room.

Is it something he has seen
or doesn’t want to see
pinches his full face?

The leather jacket swaggers
deep green aviator glasses
above a Hollywood smile.

Is it for selling or buying
the smiles and good mornings
pass between patrons?

Stolid body rising from transparent pumps,
stiletto heels out of place
click-clacking under faded Barbie skirt.

Is the bold coffee relevant
on the way maybe to a stripper pole
somewhere anywhere?

And then I saw it...
an American flag pin
at the very tip
of her collar
just below
the blue butterfly
tattoo...
and her lips,
and hips
and undulating
other parts
moved on out
into the morning.