Kevin Plilkington: “If You Are Lucky”
IF YOU ARE LUCKY
I looked over the menu at a diner
the way I used to look over all
those exams I never studied for.
A waitress came over cracking gum
as if there was a fire in her mouth.
Since I hadn’t travelled out of the city
in over a year, I ordered a Colorado
omelette. When she came back
and placed the dish in front of me
I thought it was the wrong order
since it was shaped more like Michigan.
There was a biscuit the size of a baseball
next to it some kid hit over a fence
and rolled onto my plate before a dog
picked it up in its teeth and ran off.
It took me though to smear butter
over it and make it a homerun. I
was hungry and plowed through most
of the eggs but couldn’t finish all
of Denver and a strip of bacon running
through it like 1-70. I didn’t go
for another cup of coffee then left
before the waitress convinced me
my name really was Sweetie.
I walked home passing another vacant
storefront window looking like
an empty promise I used to believe
along with anyone else who was fool
enough to listen. That was back when
money in my pocket made me dangerous,
the last stop on the Number 6 was just another
place to start over and any passing car
horn or siren was enough to set me off too.
Then COVID hit and stuffed hospitals
and killed thousands until streets
lost weight, grew thinner and kept
me inside and on my knees somewhere
between a prayer and fear. That was
before vaccines. Now those two clouds
peering over a dark high rise is another
way the sky wears a mask and keeps
the air cleaner. Before I reach 3rd I find
myself in front of the building where
I had a crush on a woman who I wanted
to convince the first night we slept
together I invented sex. When we woke
the next morning I was convinced she did.
I found if you are lucky everything
goes on like this city. Simply place
a bet on any corner you want
and you’ll find out not everything is rigged.
Kevin Pilkington is on the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College. His latest poetry collection, Playing Poker with Tennessee Williams, was published by Black Lawrence Press in 2021. His new novel, Taking On Secrets, was published by Blue Jade Press in 2022.