Portrait Of Shorty Poem by jackilton peachum

PPORTRAIT: SHORTY
(1962--)
For Dan Winslow, who also remembered
(Free verse fourteener)

Never too dainty was our Shorty,
mannin' th' mid-morning grill down at Hap's--
unfiltered Lucky in his lips dribblin' ashes
into y'r grits, y'r eggs, y'r bacon
-- head's up! -- coughin' into a lunchtime meatloaf!
Long grey hair tucked up under tiny white paper-cap
coke-bottle bottoms for glasses,
hearing aid size of a car-battery,
and a shout sometimes to get his attention:
(Whatta Hell d' YEW want? ") ,
Skinny and raw-boned, no meat on his bones at all,
wizened as ol' Father Time hisself
and sometimes in his good ear, snick of cue on ivory,
8-ball on green felt cloth rackin' up for game over.

(Hap's pool- lunchroom, Greenville, N.C.)