Saturday, June 17, 5-7 p.m.—Jane Marla Robbins will host a book launch and signing of her latest book of poems, Cafe Mimosa in Topanga at Café Mimosa, 395 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga, CA 90290. Expect music, poems, and Music. Reading. Celebration.
Topanga author Megan Rice, says, “The poems are playful and moving…The book is wonderful.” It is also on sale on Amazon.
Rainy afternoon.
Only the desperate regulars.
Josiah, who drives a bus for a living,
John, who drives a car for a living,
and Tony, driven by seemingly
super-human energy
to find more water-dropping helicopters
to keep us safe from fires.
Of course it’s raining today
so it’s moot.
None of these three men speaks
in cadences I’m used to:
John, with puns and jokes
and Tony almost faster than a person can follow.
“I’m not going to talk about myself anymore,”
he tells me five times,
“I’m not going to talk about myself anymore,”
talking of course about himself,
his smart, driven self.
Josiah’s index finger follows and follows
and follows the wicker border
of the table where he’s sitting,
his focus, laser-like, and I wonder:
Is it his crystal ball?
I finally ask him what he’s looking at.
“A baby cockroach trapped under the wicker,”
he says, explaining how food inevitably
gets caught and buried there.
We are all trapped, sometimes, I think, looking for food,
and for all of us there is someone watching,
maybe to free us,
maybe to help, maybe to laugh.
We are not alone.
CAFÉ MIMOSA
January 18, 2015