Yellow Mama E zine

Wherever I Go, a Table for One Has Extra Chairs

 

by Richard Allen Taylor

 

 

At Dante’s Pizzeria, they ask how many.

I say one. Do I need a beer menu? No.

I have the beer menu memorized.

 

At Pedro’s, they ask how many.

I say uno. They put me in a booth for four.

I get enough queso and chips for two.

 

At Cracker Barrel the lady says “Three?”

She thinks the people behind me are with.

I shake my head. One. The table they choose

for me has three empty chairs.

 

At Jimmy’s Fish House, I agree to sit

at the bar, a long narrow table for many ones.

 

At Tony’s Italian Grill, I will dine with a group

on Friday, but today I’m alone. Chicken carbonara

for one, with pinot grigio. Grazie.

 

At McDonald’s, they never ask how many I am.

I get two patties, but only one sesame seed bun.

 

Richard Allen Taylor is the author of four poetry collections including Letters to Karen Carpenter and Other Poems (2023) from Main Street Rag Publishing Company.  His poems, articles and reviews have appeared in Aeolian Harp, Flying South, Litmosphere, Pinesong, Tar River Poetry, Rattle, and Sheila-Na-Gig Online, among others. Several of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He formerly served as review editor for The Main Street Rag and founding co-editor of Kakalak. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and currently resides in Greer, South Carolina. 

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Cindy Rosmus originally hails from the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ, once voted the “unfriendliest city on the planet.” She talks like Anybodys from West Side Story and everybody from Saturday Night Fever. Her noir/horror/bizarro stories have been published in the coolest places, such as Shotgun Honey; Megazine; Dark Dossier; The Rye Whiskey Review, Under the Bleachers, and Rock and a Hard Place. She is the editor/art director of Yellow Mama. She’s published seven collections of short stories. Cindy is a Gemini, a Christian, and an animal rights advocate. She has recently branched out into photo illustration.