a couple is fighting
outside.
a starbucks window between us

i am happy
to be able to do what i love
while a couple is fighting

and noone told the girl
that she is dressed like trailer trash
in a town where a sense of fashion is essential

maybe that's what they're arguing about
while i type and type and type
and smile because they're still fighting
twenty minutes later

van morrison plays softly on the speakers
and a black man claims to be turning 72 in october

i don't pay him any attention

i don't pay attention to anyone
unless there is glass between us

i'm a monkey at a type writer
in the kind of zoo where i can come and go as i wish

and perhaps serve as a little show of human nature
for the couple still fighting outside