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Photo © 2024
Jennifer Wagner
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It was obvious
why she’d
chosen the Marietta Diner,
in retrospect.
Spacecraft-esque
and in Georgia.
She spilled a
Coke
meant for
someone else’s table
when she placed
a Cobb salad in
front of me,
shaken by a few
Russians discussing
the cosmonauts
in a cloud of smoke nearby.
That’s when
we’d recognized her
from a grainy photograph
on the History Channel.
And of course, she’d
had a different name.
Soon after, she’d
been replaced
and we were
told she’d taken ill.
But as we
walked toward our Chevy,
there she was
crouching down behind
it,
bumming a ride.
If someone is
brave enough
to wear a red
leather jumpsuit
and they ask
for your help,
you know they
need it.
So, we dropped
her “anywhere,”
as requested.
She blew us a kiss,
and one toward
the east,
then strode
high, helmet in hand,
toward Narikala
and, we hoped,
home.
©
2024 Jennifer Wagner
For Shay’s Word Garden Word List
Since I
recently returned from a trip to Georgia (state not country) and watched (tripped-out
over) Season 1 of Constellation, this is what the muse gave.
National Poetry
Month: Day 2