Black with Sugar
Black with Sugar
Loam-dark
A mellow companion, rich
Whose waving vapors indicate
The only friendly warmth in this
Orange-and-yellow plastic always open Tabernacle
Silent on the Formica
Sweet Latin scents caress the senses
Softening
Blows from the nicotine grayness
And insipid ceiling-speak Muzak
Smooth and sepia
Spirals down the throat, wet, warm
For a moment attention drifts
From the bleary graveyard denizens
the three-day growth denim jacket derelict
the greasy ember of a cook
the scrubbed behemoth cop
A granite waitress
A quiet witness
To a melancholy 3:00 am solo
Outside
the neon punches holes in the glacial black
splaying stark pastels across the street’s lonely void
Inside
Indifference frosts the electric décor
The mug is chipped
But its contents fight the chill and bring a
Welcome, wistful
Smile
— Zumwalt (1977)
zumpoems 