Home
I have rewritten the last stanza several times. Happy for you to comment and help when you have time.
A Momentary Halt
Airmen dressed in uniforms
invade the hole-in-the-wall diner.
My husband and I watch them
take over two tables and grow
rowdy with one another—
teasing, checking phones,
laughing.
A woman at the counter
calls out numbers. Customers
rise, walk up, retrieve their food,
sit back down. At one point,
the counter worker forcefully yelps
a number over the great noise.
The diner comes to a sudden halt.
Everything stops for a moment.
Just as abruptly, the noise resumes.
We two agree
it’s like a sergeant from the past shouted,
“Stand down!” and every airman heard
and obeyed the command.
Meanwhile, we work
to breathe, loosen up, be at ease.
A Momentary Halt
Airmen dressed in uniforms
invade the hole-in-the-wall diner.
My husband and I watch them
take over two tables and grow
rowdy with one another—
teasing, checking phones,
laughing.
A woman at the counter
calls out numbers. Customers
rise, walk up, retrieve their food,
sit back down. At one point,
the counter worker forcefully yelps
a number over the great noise.
The diner comes to a sudden halt.
Everything stops for a moment.
Just as abruptly, the noise resumes.
We two agree
it’s like a sergeant from the past shouted,
“Stand down!” and every airman heard
and obeyed the command.
Meanwhile, we work
to breathe, loosen up, be at ease.
