From padded window seat inside café
a cup of tea warms my hands
as cold winds shuffle sidewalk leaves
Two tables away sit two men
one in October years
the other May
Soiled clothing, old scuffed shoes, weathered
skin, bloodshot eyes, hair disheveled
The older begins reading to the younger
from newspaper wrinkled by other hands
“Rain and wind coming in tonight from the west,
tomorrow — clearing, with temps in high 30s
then dropping to low 30s
Saturday, sunny and in the high 30s.”
The young man’s chiseled face
seemingly stoic
suddenly tightened with the words
“Sunday, high 20s, snow mixed with sleet.”
I recall living outside for two years
I recall living with Weather.
William Waterway has been a poet since youth. He was the founder of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine and Nantucket Magazine; founder of the Martha’s Vineyard Poetry Society, and has been published by various media. He has won several national poetry awards.
