thanksgiving eve '06

village inn filled with
senior citizens enjoying the discounts
all dressed up in pressed blouses
and sparkling brooches
old man pants hiked up
with button down shirts
and thin hair parted to shine
the pretty waitress holding the
platter of pancakes in the menu
rivals the waitress who now takes our order
her nametag says wanda
with hasty hair pulled back uncovering
thick blue eye-shadow and fifty cent mascara
and leather skin desinged by years of devotion
to no-filter cigarettes
she works for her twenty percent
in this small town metropolis
on the river's edge