///952.284///-A.Fje/// (Limitations, Pt.1) Poem by Adam Harding

One time,
I walked from my place to the cafe.
That's a good ten miles,
but I didn't care.

There was a girl there,
offering her service to total strangers.
She didn't care who they were,
as long as she got her money.

I looked through the jukebox,
while contemplating the meaning of its name.
There wasn't anything worth playing,
so I sat at my table
without the pleasures of music.

She approached.
I said hello, but did not smile.
Smiling is for people who know one another.

'What can I do for you? '
It was a question that,
potentially,
could bring me riches, love, and if I was lucky,
some happiness.

That question could get me anything I want.
Unfortunately, there was a limited selection.

It's not normal, but I ordered
a strawberry milkshake (which, of course,
I had to change to a Banana shake.
They were out of strawberries)
and a plate of french fries.

Now my selection was limited further,
a multitude of the same thing
was on a piece of glass,
sitting in front of me.
But I also had a strawbe... Banana milkshake.

Limitations.

But it was a little bit too late, for when
I wanted to ask for more, I
had already left.

I had the need for something I truly craved.
What I crave can't be
sold at a diner.
I soon arrived at a hole,

which I had never seen before.
I thought I was in the

right place. It was my address,
but there was no belonging.
There were no belongings. They
took everything.
My selection was even further limited.

And now I sit and wait,
I decompose.
What should I do, until there's
a chance that my selection
will be unlimited again?

Everything has a limit,
I learned that night.
My home was missing, my money
spent on fewer choices,
and now I sit and wait in the hole

that I used to call happiness.

Limitations.