Adelaide B. Shaw

Morning Voices

seven to ten but there is no set time come when ready with eight o’clock the usual time for many check the menu discuss what’s good choose same as yesterday or the chef’s special french toast or eggs or maybe better stick to oatmeal Richard says to his wife in a loud voice because she can’t hear and she replies in a loud voice because he also can’t hear but others hear their choices and the story about a dog who died from eating chocolate causes a pause in everyone’s conversation but Elaine arrives and good mornings are said all around and coffee ordered again and the weather is checked on cell phones and commented upon as snow falls when Dave sits at the table and the dog story is repeated

lovers and friends
just a tenuous hold
in our lives
yet again and again 
we reach for a connection

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About the Author

Adelaide B. Shaw lives in Somers, New York.  She has been creating Japanese poetic forms for over fifty years. Her book An Unknown Road won third place in the 2009 HSA Merit Book Awards. It and her other books—Travel Souveniers, The Distance I’ve Come, and Ancient History—are available on Cyberwit and Amazon. http://www.adelaide-whitepetals.blogspot.com.

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