Portraits Drawn in One Sitting

1.
Man talking on the phone
drinking from a pink soda can.
Long dark hair
beard
sunglasses pushed up on his head
paint-spattered hoodie:
Dude she is a liar
I never took any of her clothes
when she moved out
She took all of her clothes
She’s a liar. I’m sick of talking about it.
OK. I’ve got to go back to work.
Call you later.

2.
Lady forking up greens
one leaf at a time
from a cardboard container.
After she finishes that skimpy salad
will she dive into the
one-pound bag of
Smoky BBQ Mixed Nuts
sitting on the table beside her?

3.
Grocery café worker
she says to me:
Is this your cart
(empty
pushed up against the next table)
or may I take it away?
I applaud the use of
may vs. can.
And that she is always cheerful.
But it is not my cart.
She can do whatever she wants.

4.
Baby standing on the seat of the booth behind me
shouting into the back of my head:
Mommy
mommy
mommy
apple
apple
apple

5.
Across the asphalt lot
a building and
Roofers.
Five men
one works the valley
another the ridgeline
three scatter across the landscape
of new plywood and flashing
rolling out tarpaper
over the shimmer of parked cars in the sun.

4/4/19