Dear Rosalinda. Stop coming into my café where I write poetry
Wearing leather. Your black boots with elaborate buckles? Excellent.
“I don’t want to see you if I can’t have you” is not what I meant.
That sentiment is boring, and in bad taste.
All the work you did on your appearance shouldn’t go to waste,
So go ahead. Let’s see your jacket and your combed hair.
I’m writing poetry. Go ahead and look good. It’s only fair.
Just want you to know I’m noting every particular, the sound
Of your voice, the way you hold your hands, the emotions
Which play across your face, the things you say, how much you seem
To want me, or don’t want me; I notice these things confidently
As if I were in a dramatic, egotistical waking dream.
I can write poetry when the café is crowded, I don’t care,
Rosalinda. Or that other café. You can go there.