“Real Orchids”


Are those real orchids,
in the café?
If they are warm
to the touch,
from the air
of the espresso machine
back-drafting into them,
are they merely
hot-house flowers?
The café socialists
in a world of new
barbudos, bearded orchids
rifling through the jungle
snaking up the pole in the
wafts of aromatic
mysore café.
Have they the room
to breathe?

– Sarah Pearlstein