HAIKU FOR A DAY IN THE GARDEN BAR

Garden Bar at ten.
Nice place for contemplation.
No one knows I'm here.

Now the lunch-time crowd
In its somber office black
Brings indigestion.Summer.

After lunch.
Miguel polishing glassware.
No one else is near.

Garden Bar at three.
Quiet summer afternoon.
I am all alone.

Glass ofChardonnay.
Salted peanuts in a dish,
Sparrow at the door.

Then the quiet ends.
At five in the afternoon*
Cigarettes abound.

(Nasty way to die.
Smoke would make the bulls fall down!
Danger in the air.)

Bar at closing time.
Clatter,chatter,one more drink.
I have left by then.

*With apologies to Federico García Lorca

—C.W.Hart, Jr.(CC ’77)