scenes from a cafe

i sketch shoen uemura paintings while allegra
watercolors at the table
under a warm lamp

petals make water invisible; the water
in my cup, the water in the river, the water
they are making coffee with is pink

i spend an hour on the peacock feathers
of this woman’s obi before my
peach marker ruins the sketch

later, all of us will clamor under the arches
for the same delightful photo

earlier, allegra takes a picture of me on a little boat
it’s morning but in the picture branches reach
from the dark to cradle me
i look tired, but the dark, the dark