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.
