Silver Anniversary

They don’t talk
Each in their own world chewing away like cattle at the trough
She’s clad in sweatpants and runners from another life
Both head to toe in don’t give a fuck uniforms
The stalemate of conversation goes unchallenged
Locked in solitary
The vacancy in the eyes is all they have left in common

The Woman Behind the Counter

flick of hip swings open the kitchen door
plates in hand, apathy on face
she cuts a groove trenching out a routine
10 years? Ten too many all worn in the eyes
I catch look as she swabs the deck
Deep in there, there is life to be found
We share a second and for that briefest of moments, we connect
She smiles, I return
The bell rings and its back to reality
I catch here eye as I settle and hope that she never does