Maizel at Shorty’s in Kendall
All shift them sugar donuts
been singing to me,
calling me something crazy in a voice
Dolly Parton’d be proud of— Maizel, honey,
eat us up! Like that.
Friendly. Nice and sweet, all
glazed up together in that box, as if they was
happy about being what they
is, surely more than this
jelly-junkie waitress hooked on
Krispy Kremes can say. Halve the moon,
leave a frosted crescent for some other girl.
Maizel, you ain’t kidding
no one, honey.
Of a certainty you’re gonna eat that yourself,
probably soon’s you get these BB-
Q
ribs to them boy’s at table
sixteen. Nice-looking boys, too.
These days we’re getting the,
uh, Cuban mostly,
virtually all what you call Hispanic-speaking.
White folks gone moved up to Broward County, like my
ex. Maizel, you shut
your mouth about that man! Sweet Gee-
zus, honey, ain’t this ring of sugar gold enough?
by Campbell McGrath
from Nouns & Verbs
Harper Collins, 2019