Sir, we are going to have to ask you to leave
Wait. What. Why.
Sir, we have had complaints.
Complaints. Complaints. About what. Wait. Is this because I told the barista I wanted my coffee black and then winked at the barista and stuck my tongue out like a lizard. like a lizard at him. Is that it. because if it is. I am sorry. It was a bad joke. I could have sworn it was only in my head. I get these bad jokes in my head sometimes. I don't mean to ever let them out but I get that me doing it may have been offensive. So I am sorry.
That would have been cause for removal absolutely sure. But we do not currently have a black barista.
Who said anything about him being black.
We have not had one in months. Not because we are trying not to have one. It has simply just worked out that way.
For the record it was not a racial thing. It was a-- It must've been somewhere else that I did that then.
Sir, your admission about race and coffee would have indeed been enough. For sure. But we must ask you to pack up your-- is that a typewriter.
No. Yes. I am done with the lies.
Your typewriter and please leave immediately or we will be forced to call the cops. And you know that the police are not friendly in this town.
I still do not understand. Am I being persecuted because I keep staring directly between the legs of each woman and man who walks into this establishment without ever looking anywhere on their bodies but directly between their legs. Is that it. Because if it is then let me tell you I am just curious about their private arenas er---areas not arenas - though when you think about it our private areas do become arenas of sorts. Mine would be like the Lousiana Superdome post-Katrina. A total mess. An arena in disrepair then hit with a hurricane and thousands of lost souls.
Sir. I am going to have to cut you off. You must leave because one of the customers overheard you talking to yourself.
Oh! Is that all! We all talk to ourselves! Survey the populace. Do it anonymously if you must! Survey them! You! You must talk to yourself!
I do.
See!
But I do not do what you do. I do not say what you say.
What. what. did I say. that was so horrifying.
It's really not appropriate for me to repeat in this coffee establishment Sir. We have too many members of the tech industry here with too much start-up capital and clout. I do not want to offend the members of this evolving community's virtual lifeblood--
That I'm a poet. Is that it. That I said I was a poet.
Sir.
It's that I'm a poet. That I said that I was a poet. You are kicking me out because I am a poet.
Sir. Please. I am going to have to call the police.
Fine. Fine. I will leave. I will pick my typewriter up and leave. I get how shudder worthy it may sound to folks these days. That there is no path. No interest. Not even fleeting click-bait. That this is not a world for the poet.
Sir.
I placed my heart into a case
with her own
Sir. Please. This is embarrassing
in a case
in case
what we did
became too messy
and there they were
like clowns packed into a tiny car
our hearts
unrecognizable
indistinguished
from one or another
so that
they were one
our hearts
a blubbery unified
heart
and the case
was above us
and we were moving
in motion
on a bed
for hours
and
hours
and
hours
and
sweat
I did that part
to give her so much pleasure
so that the other ones would have to become unrecognizable
that
she would be so overwhelmed
her senses had to start over
that
they would have no trace
and it was selfish
the best lovers
are selfish
we are selfish
the best lovers
the best lovers
the best lovers
want to haunt their lovers as the only ghost
the best lovers are selfish
they want to haunt their lovers in a way that has nothing to do with love
and it was selfish
that
after I had left
that
her body was empty of any trace
of any other touch
and haunted
that
I left her haunted
and that it took
a long while
for her blood to return
and
it took a long while
for her to take her heart back out
from that
already left-opened
solely inhabited
case
Sir
I'm going. I'm going.
