lobby

my hands fall clumsily onto the keyboard
i am amazed there are no misspellings

waiting for my coffee to cool a sip more
and the floating pat of butter to melt
i am waiting on 

a paradox
a pair of dice

i type and sit
sip and type
i am waiting on words to come out

paradeux

monkeys with typewriters
we've done this experiment before

the pilot in the breakfast nook asks for boiled eggs
the man in the burger shirt would like to check out late. 

he's been places
we all can see
from his shirt
with the Burgers that are 

first In
then Out

we don't have those down here

and we don't have hard-boiled eggs
either
not this morning.

they were ordered from the warehouse
but never came
she tells him

she is sixty five perhaps
and only another half hour from bed
she greets we stragglers
who have slept soundly under her night desk watch.

i wonder who it is
that isn't there
to greet her at the door,

the same nobody

she works night shifts 

in this airport hotel for

maybe he left a long time ago
perhaps he recently died
there's always a chance
he never existed
and she has always been
a night owl

waiting up for him to arrive,

the egg-less pilot stands to leave
and i hope his hands do not fall clumsily 
in front of him this morning 

due to a lack of yolk 

yoke 

less

eggyolks

I quietly wish him no misspellings. 
as he walks out next to Linda the Lobby Lady

she is now greeted
brightly
too brightly
by the morning staff 

those freshly washed faces 

trickling in
with the sun

At the door, they go their separate ways

he to greater heights 
and she to depths of slumber
godspeed you both, my friends

eggs from warehouses
words from coffee

to go home and 

a bit more sleep

we all want something
we 

simply
cannot
have