Risposta coro to a Spanish Ballad
That barista, Mother,
with the dark roast eyes…
……………….Tony Hoagland
That young man, Father,
with the innocent chin
and lost beagle eyes
approached my counter
again today. He watches me
as I go through the motions
of pulling plugs releasing
coffee and steaming milk.
— Dad, does he not get it?
I’ve heard that he is a geek,
a type of nerd who may
have been born in Silicon Valley,
but then who really gives a shit.
— He is too latte white for me and
there are those Buddy Holly
glasses he wears, so hideous,
like he never made it out
of the ‘50s. He makes
me angry by his very existence.
I would gladly give loads
of my tips if I could say one
word that would make him leave
without saying one word to me.
Not one thing could he say
that would make me pay
him any mind, but yet
he persists in telling me
that I am beautiful,
even though today
my nose is red, I have this
flaming pimple on my chin and
my hair is flat.
© Sara M. Robinson
Sara M. Robinson, founder of the Lonesome Mountain Pros(e) Writers’ Workshop and a teacher of Contemporary American Poetry at UVA-OLLI, is poetry columnist for Southern Writers Magazine and poetry editor for the premier issue of Virginia Literary Journal. In addition to publication in various journals and anthologies, including We Grew Wings and Flew (2014) and Poetica literary journal, she is the author of Love Always, Hobby and Jessie (2009), Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool (2012), A Cruise in Rare Waters (2013), and Stones for Words (2014). Sara Robinson`s forthcoming poetry book Sometimes the Little Town, will be released by Cedar Creek Publishing in early 2016.
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