Cantina?

the new coffee

joint opened last week

called “the Cantina”.

that was of interest

to me so I travelled

west to Main then south

to Plain Street

to get to “the Cantina”.

inside it looked

like every other

coffee spot

I’d ever known

absent “Carmella’s diner”

which has been seared

to my fascination

for some 65 years.

"the Cantina” come to find out

was owned and operated

by one Fergal Leary

born of Irish parentage

who had a place on

Oak Grove Avenue

for all of Fergal's young life.

I held my disappointment

in check and ordered coffee

at the counter, drank it, got a grilled

cheese with tomato on rye to travel,

paid the tab, left a sizable

but disgruntled tip and beat it back

from whence I came.

vignette? Vignette.