Starbucks

Cleaning the bathroom at Starbucks
is an ordeal

you have at most
a 2 minute window
before someone else needs to use it

and when you finish
there's usually someone waiting outside

on their last sip
of their iced quad venti
caramel macchiato

ready
for the inevitable

My best days are spent

in the washroom

10 seconds in
a Chopin nocturne will come on

and I am at peace
with the graffiti on the mirror
and the suspect looking
wadded up toilet paper on the floor

then
the handle jiggles
followed by another
even more violent jiggle

as if to say

break's over numbnuts!
get your 30-year-old ass out here
so I can pee in the sink!

I open the door
and there's a line

wanting to know
why their order wasn't filled
before they placed their order

I open the door

and it all comes rushing in

© 2011 Lee Kitzis