Special by Joe Cottonwood

You can’t help but
watch them quarrel
about their ‘relationship’
as she calls it
while your coffee steams.
She finally says
Can you tell me I’m special in any way?
and he says
I’ll think about it
and you and everybody
at all the tables are silently urging
Leave now, sweetie
but she keeps badgering
Tell me one way I’m special
and he says
I’m still thinking
and she says
Tell me!
while his cheeks are slick with tears
Tell me!
until she rises from her chair
leans across the tiny table
kissing,
solemnly, deeply, slowly
and you have to look away.
Your coffee, everybody’s coffee
needs warming.



Joe Cottonwood has built or repaired hundreds of houses to support his writing habit in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. His latest book is Random Saints. joecottonwood.com