Perennial Smile
They come in spurs, breakfast,
lunchtime, early dinner,
nighttime tired travelers
while she stands on her feet all-day
serving with a smile, her perennial
smile, her crest of honor, her
false teeth glittering under the
vague overhead light, enough for
the customers to see what they eat
at the highway truck stop.
Hell on earth with one hundred
cursed souls living in the small
community and dutifully serve
rough truck drivers, sleepy, unshaven
smelly, committed to a schedule.
Gladys the sixty-something
waitress at Stacy’s Diner walks
with a limb, injury she endured
during her wild youth and soon after
high school the world shook her
in a strange way as she ended up
at the Diner where she has become
one with the furniture, serving
rough men: the wild passersby…
Libros Libertad 