Coffee Shop Bookstore
By Anne, age 18, Florida
ladies in the book club a few tables over
turn down the mechanical laughter
and the strange iced lemon water
and hello Ms. Old Lady Cardigan
with glasses wizened with empty champagne bottles
let the clink of your bracelets time you talking lunch partners
who tap their perfect painted toes with ultimate precision
one thinks to herself, I wish the damn waiter would come
and then giggle at the immature innuendo
the bright red war paint on your lips reveals you are too young to know the experience personally
tap your pen on the yellow plaster walls, drop your purse to give yourself a distraction
stuff your eyes with as many words as you can manage before they forbid you to do it any longer
smile, you're on candid camera
a security guard special
shut up and stand in line
you're next
