The Night Cafe
It's quarter after midnight.
There!
He destroyed himself!
& over there!
He went mad!
There! There!
She committed a crime!
"I wonder what the crime was." Debouis asked
"I don't know I imagine it was quite sordid," came the answer
Red red walls
Mirrors with tall oval tops
Green & turquoise tabletops
Long & small squares
Pedestals & buffets
Flowers
Bottles
Glasses
Elbows at rest
&
In the center of a circle of back-to chairs
The billiards table shadowing
The yellow chipped floor
& the criminal's hat is decorated with Ragusa berries
Orange & shiny
& around the room heads down on the tables
Bakers knitters & poets
A great saxophone player would have played the Night Cafe
& he would have sat with Van Gogh
Drank
Scrimmaged
& smoked
& painted pretty songs
In the shadow
Of
The billiards table