Starbucks Experience 1

A Poem by Alvah Goldbook

"HALF-CAF TRIPLE ICED GRANDE NONFAT NO WHIP EASY ICE 2 PUMP MOCHA,"
"That'll be $3.99"
the woman
wearing a woolen poncho
4 quarter-size buttons
turtleneck
oversized louis vuitton bag
filled with clothes
shopping bags
and i look at her
expecting payment
blank stare, eyes dart around me
orbits twice and back
and i stare awaiting the $3.99
blank stare, looks
as she
has seen
a
ghost.
she can't answer
stuck at the question
stuck somewhere between the digits
between the three and that dot
what is that dot, she thinks
and stares, but the staring eyes split
before my eyes
and pass by me and she
looks, but hides
the fact
that she
is
looking.
an arm comes around the register
a rabbit from a hat
her husband's pinky
ring on the credit
card.