At Breakfast

At breakfast I sit at a table with a man who looks like an old chimpanzee face long, beard grey sporty blue driving cap on his head. There is much experience in his face of a life that has been worn away. Like a woman I steal glances and absorb it all in an instant. I look beyond him. On the wall above his head a quilt of prayers hangs. One proclaims, “May all beings find joy.” And I think instead, “May all beings find Waldo.” cracking myself up amid the still and somber silence of retreat. (originally published in my 2nd book of poems and stories, LITTLE PINE, 2016)