Automat, by Steve Deutsch

Automat, by Edward Hopper (USA) 1927

Automat
 
I imagine she looked
much like this--
abandoned 
at the Horn & Hardart
 
near the public library. 
The cloche is new--
always a frugal girl,
she saved her spare change
 
to buy it.
She has been waiting
much more than an hour--
the wretched coffee
 
has long gone cold.
I promised I would be there.
“To talk,” I said.
“To patch things up.”
 
Lonely now
in a new way,
she can only wonder
why I’ve chosen not to.
 
Perhaps a more
talented artist than I 
might paint
my likeness
 
as I sit at a similar table
crosstown.
And buried somewhere in that painting
might lie the answer--
 
in the worry lines
around my eyes, 
or in the tremor
captured
 
in the stillness of my hands?
I don’t know.
Do we ever 
really know?
 
It’s been years now,
and painting this picture 
has given me one last chance
to make amends--
 
to place myself at your table.

Steve Deutsch​

Steve Deutsch lives in State College, PA. His recent publications have or will appear in RavensPerch,  MacQueen’s,  8 Poems,  Louisiana Lit,  Burningword Literary Journal, The Write Launch, Biscuit Root Drive, Evening Street, Better Than Starbucks, Flashes of Brilliance, SanAntonio Review, Softblow, Mojave River Review, The Broadkill Review,  Linden Avenue Literary Journal, Panoply, Algebra of Owls, The Blue Nib, Thimble Magazine, The Muddy River Poetry Review, Ghost City Review, Borfski Press, Streetlight Press, Gravel, Literary Heist, Nixes Mate Review, Third Wednesday, Misfit Magazine, Word Fountain, Eclectica Magazine, The Drabble,  New Verse News and The Ekphrastic Review. He was nominated for Pushcart Prizes in 2017 and 2018. His chapbook, Perhaps You Can, was published in 2019 by Kelsay Press. His full length book, Persistence of Memory was just published by Kelsay.