The Waitress Cleans the Diner’s Coffee Pots
and in her rush, spills coffee grounds
all over the counter.
Sticky, wet mounds stain
her dishcloth, remind her
of an uncle who chewed tobacco,
a small wad always tucked
between his cheek and lower lip.
His teeth were tainted brown,
his jeans all wore white Skoal circles
embedded in the back pockets.
She remembers that he rarely smiled,
and carried an empty Coke bottle,
where he spit his tobacco juice,
the same color of the last cup
of coffee she pours down the sink.
Karen J. Weyant‘s poems have been published in Chautauqua, Fourth River, Lake Effect, New Plains Review, Rattle, Slipstream, Trailer Park Quarterly and Whiskey Island. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, and a full-length collection, Avoiding the Rapture (Riot in Your Throat Press). She teaches at Jamestown Community College in Jamestown, New York and lives, reads, and writes in northern Pennsylvania.
