They’re chatting

they're chatting
in front of the register
lit softly   by streetlight
and if you only saw
the look on his face
her back   to you
   her hands
on   her hips
     straight black hair
sliding over
     casual
tilt
   you'd never guess 
she was an
eighty-year-old widow.

3 thoughts on “They’re chatting”

  1. well done, very suspenseful. i really wanted to know what would be revealed. bravo, sorbet.
    “If you explore beneath shyness or party chit-CHATt, you can sometimes turn a dull exchange into an intriguing one. I’ve found this to be particularly true in the case of professors or intellectuals, who are full of fascinating information, but need encouragement before they’ll divulge it.”
    —Joyce Carol Oates
    “The hare-brained CHATTER of irresponsible frivolity.”
    Benjamin Disraeli

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  2. I really like this one. Would it be intruding too much into the author’s inner sanctum to ask what inspired it? I’m especially interested b/c of the way that the John Irving book I just read (A Widow for One Year) focuses on its writer-protagonist’s musings on whether good fiction should have some autobiographical basis. Of course then you get into the whole moebius (sp?) strip of that: Irving’s writing about a writer, who’s writing and talking about using imagination rather than personal experiences to create characters……wait, I think my brain just overheated.

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  3. Hey! First Itto’s back and now Bluebeard’s joined the mix! That makes my night.
    You can figger pretty much all of these are based on something real. This one was something I saw a few weeks back that stayed with me….

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