Posters hang on all the walls
except the hallway �
where a peasant girl by Matisse
squeezes her hands tightly
yearning to touch
something cool and bittersweet.

Below her, the table hosts
our emerald passion for limes
and a bottle of Tanqueray gin.

Friday night comes again. As usual
we mix fruit with spirits
fatigue with a twist
of pale candlelight
and jazz with a dream
of stealing back our youth



�2006 by Wendy Howe