Buying Chinese Food

Her silent sadness screams to me
as she works in the metal kitchen
she has become trapped in.
I see her inability to smile
and want to help her,
but she has already taken my order;
there is nothing else to say.

When she hands me my food
I know she’ll have to say something then.
As we wait for my food to fry,
I watch someone yell at her,
words ricocheting off the metal walls like bullets.
She is their target 
but apparently everyone was sprayed 
with a bulls eye�"or maybe that was just me.
I thought he was her son
but no son could ever disrespect his mother like that.
Maybe he’s her brother or husband,
this seems like a conversation on repeat.
I watch her respond defensively,

and say nothing.
The minutes pass in solitude;
everyone is within twenty feet of each other
but our own word are too important
for interaction with someone we’ll
never see again.
The girl at one of the beaten and broken tables
behind me
is talking on her phone
to her boyfriend.
“I don’t think this is going to work out.”
He can’t hear her and she gets upset.

“Here you go,” the silent woman hands my food.
“Thank you,” I say, smiling a smile
I hope isn’t as fake as it feels.
“You can get sauce here,” she says, pointing.
“Yes, I know, thanks.” Still smiling,
I take my bag and leave.
I glance back through the window;
Head bowed, she is already cleaning the equipment
only my food needed.

Reviews

[Monica-Antoinetta-Magda..]

this is great, you really captured the tension of the sitation! (:

[khalid]

that is a very nice poem. i like the way you described the situation in general. one of the things i understood, i dont know if you really meant it or no, you wanted to say chinese food because usually chinese made things are cheap but not origional...so you wanted to say, chinese food ( not italian. mexican...) to show that it is not that nice food and it wasnt that interesting. i liked the way you have written it. i liked all the images as well as the flow of the words. very nicely written. thank you