Cream and Sugar

The waitress refilled his cup of coffee
He winked and she frowned
His friend had asked for decaf
And swiveled a little in his diner chair.
The waitress and the friend had no idea
They could not see it
They didn’t know
There was the pie and there the salt
And yet he was still there
And they couldn’t feel the earth
Slowly slipping off its axis
Because of the way the sun angled
Through the windows
They couldn’t feel their memories
Slowly evaporating with the coffeepot steam
Because they kept family pictures in their wallets.
No one could believe
No one could have known
That he was pouring cream and adding sugar
He was slowly dismantling the universe
One appendage one atom at a time
With no feeling but fury
With his eyes calm and open.
The waitress and the friend
Couldn’t know they were hollow
For the pie and cigarette smoke
Even the nothing taken out of them
And sidewalks cracking, the world unwinding
As his spoon keeps stirring.
If they had any chance
To see before the flame
They missed it in a flutter.
All is gone in a wink,
A twinkle of the eye.