Hometown

by Stephen Toft and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Wales Haiku Journal, March 2020. Originally written in January 2020.

dark afternoon

a waitress

folds napkins Stephen

soup spoons

clinking in the sink Michael

the busboy

flicks his cigarette

towards the stars Stephen

no tip

from the fat cat

in the Cadillac Michael

a vagrant stops

to smell the coffee Stephen

silent snowfall—

the OPEN neon

blinks off Michael