John Tustin

My Day

I was at a diner and after I affirmed my order
I saw from the corner of my eye
Something on the floor
To the right of my booth.

It seemed someone
Shit their pants and it fell loose
Over and over again
As they were on their way
To the shitter

And it was a trail Hansel and Gretel
Could easily follow,
Right down the center.

I saw the quick movements of the manager
And the hurried movements of the employees
To rectify this moment, this movement,
As the smell began to come to me
And I couldn’t help but begin to notice
What had happened.

I licked my fingers and put them to my nose
And then the coffee came
And I smelled that deep and true
And then they cleaned up the mess
Made by some poor soul in what is most certainly
In worse a state than me

And then all I smelled was disinfectant
And bacon
As I ate my omelet and my toast
And my bacon.
I had two cups of coffee,

Stood up, paid the bill at the register,
Walked back and left a two dollar tip.

This was the second best and the second worst part of my day.
The worst was not much worse
And the better just better marginally.

I would put myself in the majority class.
Nothing gets much better
Or worse.

Now you know.

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many disparate literary journals since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online.