Waitress
I know that of the two of us
seated at the counter, I’m her favorite.
She called the other old guy to my right
“honey.” Then she called me “sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart.” And I’ve only been coming to
this restaurant for a couple of years now.
Of course, maybe the guy to my right comes in
less often and started more recently, though
I’ve surely seen him here before. Still,
she called me “sweetheart.” Not that I
have any interest in her outside of being
waited on and promptly served. But
it’s nice to be called “sweetheart”
now and then, even by someone
you suspect may call others “darling”
or treat total strangers as if they’re old friends.
Matthew J. Spireng’s 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize-winning book Good Work was published in 2020 by Evening Street Press. An 11-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the author of two other full-length poetry books, What Focus Is and Out of Body, winner of the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award, and five chapbooks. He was the winner of The MacGuffin’s 23rd Annual Poet Hunt Contest in 2018 and the 2015 Common Ground Review poetry contest. Website: matthewjspireng.com.
