In a New York Belgian restaurant a woman’s coat lies open on the floor.
She has just slept through the most important meeting of her life.
An art dealer is waiting for money from Turkey
and talking heatedly into her cellphone about swift codes.
I plug in my computer and lights do not come on.
Funny how quickly the panic arrives.
“How many times do I have to tell you: I hate asparagus!”
A woman again sends back an omelette.
A mother and baby cannot stay to finish their breakfast.
“Daddy!” “Daddy!” he wails as she rolls him out the door.
They get in a cab, and, as the driver pulls away from the curb,
a van cuts him off, and another driver starts yelling.
I am left with my pain perdu.
People these days have so many cell numbers.
Never mind “Daddy!” we need more breasts!
— Poem and drawing (of Evelyn, a favorite model) by William Eaton
∩ This poem originally concerned the morning of 30 October 2009, at La Petite Abeille restaurant on First Avenue and 20th Street in New York. That restaurant has now closed and life has moved on, but . . . I still have my memories of going there with my young son. He used to read, head on my lap, while I tapped away on my laptop. And there was the time . . . and the time . . .
Meanwhile, many years later I experimented with a few “un-well-made” stories, for which this piece may seem a precursor. Readers might see, for example: Ma première femme solía decir burlándose de sí misma: It’s lonely on this pinnacle, from 2024.
Pain perdu = French toast. Peine perdue = wasted effort.
I absolutely love this acutely accurate slice of life. It leaves me longing to be comforted somehow. I also love the drawing!
Thanks Carol! I was reminded after posting how back in the previous century, in 1990, I was working with an organizational development consultant, and we chatted a lot, and one thing she said was, “Everyone needs a wife.” By which she might have meant that there were fewer and fewer wives to go around (as more women were entering the official workforce). But I believe what she had in mind was that these women, such as her, who were working hard in the official workforce, also needed wives to come home to! Meanwhile, I hope the polar vortex has not reached NC.
Men used to be more protective. Not so much anymore. But we all need protection and comforting from time to time.
Ah. We don’t just need breasts, we need broad shoulders, too!