Moonstone Diner: 54th & 7th, 1:00 A.M., by Sara Castaneda

Waitress, Diner, New York City, photography by Elliot Erwitt (USA) 1955

Moonstone Diner: 54th & 7th, 1:00 A.M.
 
after Waitress, Diner, New York City, photography by Elliot Erwitt (USA) 1955 
https://www.jacksonfineart.com/artists/elliott-erwitt/new-york-city-usa-1955/
​
I’m the star of a play. Like Groundhog Day we repeat.
The house is always packed. Our patrons repeat.
I’m still Off-Off Broadway, I’m paying my dues.
I cross downstage and up.  My cues I repeat.
I do tread the boards but not as I’d expect.
Linoleum diner floors. Disinfect, wash, repeat.
An apron my costume, an order pad, my prop.
What’ll it be? I fill up your cup; repeat.
I loop through the restaurant. I command my stage.
New patrons come in. My script I repeat.
How I long to speak words of Inge and Albee.
Instead I speak greetings and order repeats.
I want to embody Ophelia, her madness insane.
Not live my own madness, go home and repeat.
Why did I move here, perhaps for a dream?
It’s turned to a nightmare, a loop I repeat.
It’s curtain call now, the end of my day.
Linoleum diner floors. Disinfect, wash, repeat.
I linger a moment with my nicotine bouquet;
inhaling her deep, I exhale I repeat.
As I kill the lights I look back at my stage,
Good night you old diner, I’ll see you tomorrow: Exit Sara: REPEAT.

​Sara Castaneda

Sara Castaneda is a poet/writer.  Her poetry collection, Underdog Bet, was published in March, 2025 by Pegasus/Vanguard Press. Her poems have been featured in The Ekphrastic Review, Morsus Vitae and Zebra Ink. She has a collaborative speculative short story in Space & Time Magazine. She is the Editor of the Collaborative Lab Space at Authortunities. She is also VP on the board of 11th House Publishing. Sara lives in Dallas, TX with her husband, Scott, and they are proudly owned by their three cats and dog.