CAFE' TRIESTE

Cafe' Trieste, SF,
magnetic north for a poet,
every place is south from here.

Ferlinghetti stares at me
from his picture on the wall.

Funny I feel this way,
it's not my myth.
at least I didn't think it was.

No where to go from here,
not the cover of AMERICAN POET,
not even the title 'poet laureate'—

a $2 cup of black coffee's the ticket,
the funky jazz and the buzz of voices,
who even cares what they're saying,

I'm here.
2/20/06

                       © 2006 by Max Reif