Café gone fifty years

Passing the place where the café

was once, I smell strong coffee

where no coffee brews in this street

of commerce and business; the café

gone these fifty years, a few tables

with red and white checkered

tablecloths, leathered cups of dice

on each to see who would pay

the bill amid murmured conversations,

muted laughter, biscuits made

from scratch brushed with butter:

businessman’s breakfast. A car horn

blasts; a delivery truck blocks

the right of way. The smell of coffee

lingers in the humid air.

Photograph: 400 block of Gravier Street, Central Business District of New Orleans.