Dinner at the Cornhusker Cafe

I've lived in fear of this: the trip
With Mom and Dad to have a steak,
To speak of marriage plans. The
Steak is shitty, tough and cold.
The casserole beside it without
Taste. These doughy peasants
Seem to favor that in all their
Food, and here's their daughter,
Next to me, in truth, a proxy
For someone I never found,
And couldn't here, a woman
With a thirst for knowledge,
Someone from another place,
A coast, where people like to read
Beyond the Bible, like to talk
To those with other tongues
And skins. She's pretty as
An empty vase, and, truly,
Very sweet to me, but marriage?
No. It isn't planned. With
Toothpicks, we extract the
Chunks of steak now stuck
Between our teeth. Her parents
Scowl. She's dropped my hand,
And I suppose I'll have to pack,
Tonight, when we have gotten
Home. I might have found a
Better word to use than "proxy,"
Might have said that we're not
Quite prepared to wed, but I
Was cornered, couldn't think.
I've lived in fear of this.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 21 times
Written on 2013-03-08 at 01:43

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