jdubqca

if you can’t say anything nice

we went downtown
to have dinner at that fancy place
where you can eat outside
on the sidewalk
and observe the street traffic
and all the pretty people
and the pigeons
and bums
who live somewhere nearby

there were six of us
and I was probably the only one
who really didn’t want to eat outside
where the city’s best and worst would walk by
with their noses turned up
where street traffic with it’s unforgiving noise
emitted carbon vapors that drifted
past the sidewalk spotted with birdshit

I just sat there with a half smile on my face
drinking my drink through a straw
and twirling the umbrella stuck inside it
thinking it was best I not say anything
lest I’d spoil everybody’s fun


july two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved