Out for Breakfast

Out having breakfast this morning,
over coffee,
in somewhat of a slump,
I was thinking to myself,
"Holy shit, Joe!
You'd better do something,
anything,
to shape up your life a bit,
or else."

And so I decided that,
for starters,
I would try to be more outgoing,
with my waitress,

Other than just getting
my usual order,
and saying "thank you,"
as it arrives,
and so,
as she was standing right in
front of me,
cleaning out a large,
white plastic container
of soe abstract sort,

I opened up my mouth to issue forth,
"What's that?"
silence,
I guess you didn't hear me,
nevertheless,
I gave myself a pat on the back,
on my way home,
just a tiny e for tiny effort,
but with total faith that,
any step in the right direction,
is secretly a giant one.


-Joe Brainard (RIP)