artwork: ralph murre
Lunch in
the Hudson Bay Cafeteria
by
Don Schaeffer
Built
at a time when air was cheap
it
has more space than it needs.
Solemn
echoes surround the flags and
matrons
dressed in white
employed
to cook and mother.
A
large symbolic paddle wheel
clatters
comically on its ancient motor
beside
a pale antique diorama of the river.
We
bring trays
of
veal and trifle.
The
ceiling is a formalized caprice
like
a stage set in animated fantasy,
with
ceremonious lamps somehow made friendly
laughing
to themselves as they sprout
from
roots in the broken clouds.
~
first published in Lily Literary
Review (2006)
