The man at the table next to me is reading
Rage while his glasses wearing son and
His polka dot wearing daughter wield
Crayons against constuction paper
I gave up my table for them
The title of his book of choice makes
Hesitation perch on my shoulder
It whispers "Do you question your
choice? Your naive giving up and moving over?"
Dad goes to the restroom
Daughter gleefully lures brother
To play until he hesitates
Fear of upsetting father lives
In the tension along
the eyebrows of the
glasses wearing son
Fear knit into his stopping
toe, his right foot's hesitation
to play
Purple slinky in hand
His nonsensical sounds attract me
Her kindergarten self returns
Pink ribbon belt and hungry brown eyes
reach into my purple sweater and
Whitman pen
I hear "hospital visiting" and
"Hour and a half until" and
I learn her name is the
color of sunset
I wonder what sadness
These children have seen as
Dad sits, Buddha like, reading Rage
and his children read him and
the children read the barrista and
I hear, like a whisper
Polka Dot Girl can't pronounce her R's
"That is the best ringtone ever"
Glasses wearing boy pronounces
Salt and pepper goatee'd man
Smiles as he returns a text
Brother and sister attempt to
Pull Dad's eyes from Rage
Man in flip flops and
Sweatshirt jerks first draft
pages and marks them as he
sips his Zambien Zing
I gave up my table for them
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