Coffee shop blues
Chalkboard announces all the different brews
of scented loose and bagged up tea,
of aromatic coffee ground from beans.
There are sugared buns and golden tray bakes,
soft and sticky comfort behind glass,
every kind of cup, saucer, plate to serve.
There is garrulous, gesticulating, long-lost
reacquaintance, awkward loneliness,
good-to-sit down, get-the-weight off types.
Liquid slops the table, leaves dark circle stains;
crumbs litter the twice-a-day swept floor,
minimum wage barista rues her debt.
Pat Edwards is a writer, teacher and performer from Mid Wales. Her work has been widely published on line and more recently in Prole, Magma and the #MeToo Anthology. Pat runs Verbatim poetry open mic nights and curates Welshpool Poetry Festival.