Forty Stop Signs At Eddie Hopper's Cafe ... With Preface

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There are times

when the loneliest places

are the exact

opposite

***

Forty STOP signs

were dining at

The Magritte Cafe

on Utopia Parkway

Most of them

were eating

ham n' eggs

but not

"Be Bop" STOP

who insisted on

chorizo 'n eggs

Olivia the waitress

from Bolivia

who did not 

have to be told

chorizo was sausage

from

south of the border

"Wop" STOP

made a joke about

"Be Bop"

 

He's a Jew from Bayside

but he only eats 

Mexican food

 

"Full" STOP

finished his meal

and lit a cigarette

 

"Top" STOP

couldn't eat very much

after dancing topless

at Cornell Gardens

 

"Non" STOP

couldn't stop talking

but only made sense

when her mouth

was full of food

 

"Half" STOP

reached for 

his harmonica

after the last bite

 

"Mop" STOP

had a tambourine

—and legs that made—

—a man dream in stereo—

 

And then 

the lights went out

 

Everybody

either played 

an instrument

or danced

but no one 

could see them

***

 

© PAUL OLIVERIO © 

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