Private Yoga Instructor Santa Monica & Los Angeles Westside private yoga classes in-home or on-location Jennifer Pastiloff Contact Jennifer (310-926-0172) Yoga at home - comfort and convenience! |
The Collected Works of Jennifer Pastiloff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inspiration at a Diner on Second Ave. I. Cheeks collapsed into his head hollow as a balloon with all the air sucked out. The skin is wrinkled and I’d love to touch it. I’ve never felt a face like that before. My favorite old man to steal images from Cleans his fork with spit.. My Own Personal Muse sucks on his poppy seed bagel. Scrapes out the dough, sucks on it to get it soft Before he swishes it around in his mouth. Once a paste, he will swallow. He’s very consistent in his habits, We count on him like a clock when we are feeling like nothing is making sense in the world That the irregular and erratic are gaining speed. He grunts in broken English Too much cantaloupe! At the man mixing fruit behind the counter, Too much cantaloupe! Then, the part I will steal, since I am here shopping for images, the true gem: It is not a balanced fruit salad because there is too much of one thing. I choke on my breakfast I am so defeated by the truth in this. Mornings I wait for him to do something fascinating To inspire me to write a poem about him. Eight whole minutes and he’s still shining a fork. He finishes his bread, Amazingly, without help from teeth, After the bagel, he eats French fries with ketchup and mayonnaise. He doesn’t even use his fork after all. He leaves and takes it. Another old man shuffles into Joe Junior’s on Second Ave. An American with big teeth and gums and skinny legs. And he walks right over to my table Like he’s been looking for me, for days, for years. He leans over eggs and into me as if to deliver some big news. Smart women he says cook with gas in balanced power homes. Then he walks away. And by the pies with a look says: Well, what do you make of that? I’ve never lived in a balanced power home. Am I smart? Can I cook? Can I cook with gas? Have I ever even been in a balanced power home? These are questions one must ask oneself After a seventy-seven year old man in a diner discloses information like this. I feel overwhelmed by this confession And more fittingly, undone. II. The answers: I am brilliant I can cook, not very well, especially not with gas. III. At home the power was never balanced. My father whistled in the morning For my mother to bring him his coffee with half and half. Nights he rang a bell for his Pepsi, his waffles with chocolate ice cream. All these men: opera singers with objects stuck in their throats Useless, until the dislodging. Until that Monday before he died he never even knew where we kept The glasses in the kitchen. We learned early not to take our mother seriously. j. pastiloff |
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