Saturday, January 10, 2009

3am Diner



















hot grease heat blows through the vents,
phones ring and waitresses shout the early bird orders,
cooks bark back in thick loud french,
cash registers beep and clack and change clinks
dropping into gnarled
fingers,
warm plates stacked with eggs and meat are sent gliding across the
counters,
sombre and weathered patrons shovel in the toast and wash it down with
bottomless coffee,
other night owls burst through the frost paneled door and take refuge
from the cold in the vinyl cushioned booths,
insipid chatter and a loud TV blasts hockey announcer twang,
salt is peppered over the "Trucker Special,"
as the steaming grill is laced with oil,
an old man slowly works through a steak and onions and sips a cold 50'
he sings to himself, a dirty old Winnipeg Jets cap sits lightly tilted
on his head,
sitting with a cousin, he goes on to tell me about his frustrating work
and demanding girlfriend,
the conversation broken by the cook and a drunk laughing heartily,
the waitress smokes quickly outside the window,
shivering in her long coat,
a young mother and her baby girl eat peacefully in a corner booth,
the little girl happily tapping the tray covered with dry cheerios,
some fall on the floor as the baby laughs and yells,
"I'm alive...are you?" she is asking in baby language,
The old man at the bar smiles and nods and takes a large swallow of his
50.

6 comments:

bws said...

YES. what a classic tale of epic description.

it makes my tastebuds water, longing for some bacon and eggs, wedged between two large texas cut french toast.

Matt McKechnie said...

good post, adnan. are you and ben gay together?

The Square Corner said...

Love 3am diner. Like both your dark and observational stuff. Like your observational pieces because the language is soo rich. After reading it I really want to go to a diner and order a pie and eat it with my fingers. Call it 3am diner.

Great compostion in the photo. Did you take it? The cat in the picture has the look of an urban comedian and a magnificent hat atop his head--pinched crown with a turned up brim. He should be in show-biz. Wish him all the luck he deserves.

SC
P.S. Where can I get that hat? Might write a blog about it.

Anonymous said...

Fuckin' A!

Matt McKechnie said...

you need to blog more often. oh yeah - and you need to stop BEING GAY!

Brother Ollie said...

Nice.

I still have a binder of your office poems.

Good stuff.

Publisher?