Center Café

Well, you’re in town, then. The boys

from the class reunion wander in

and take their places in the corner booth,

just as they might have fifty years ago—

grayer, balder, wearing hats announcing

places far away. Their conversation

rises, falls to the inevitable—a missing

friend who worked right up until the end,

another who is long past traveling. Smiles

grow distant as their silence overtakes

the room. The busy waitress pauses,

nods. She’s always known the boys.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2019 by Mark Vinz, "Center Cafe," from Local News: Poetry About Small Towns, (MWPH Books, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Mark Vinz and the publisher.