There's a certain air of importance
or should I say error?
of being the coat check girl at the jazz club
It's different than being the coat check guy
although I suppose it's not the time for gender wars
but still
there's something silly about it
getting the little plastic tags
and handing people coats
one time someone called my name
I couldn't place the face
and it turns out that someone told them
Hannah will take your coat
and I about barfed on myself as I realized it was like
I was a butler
and "Jeffrey will bring the car around for you now" (please add British accent)
I kind of stopped and stiffened and laughed
one thing I realized is people don't tip for how much they care about you--
they tip on how much they care about their coat.
Sometimes I look at the coat hangers making cool shadows
and think of it like sculpture
sometimes I try to think of how many words I can make up
starting with the first letter of each word on the restrooms sign
like
Ribbon
Estuary
Simon
Trial
Ruby
Ocean
Overt
Mother
Simple
Sometimes I look at the shadows and think of the colors,
and of art problems I am working on.
Sometimes I get tea.
Sometimes I listen to the band.
The music used to be so moving to me
I could just be whisked away
now I think if I hear one more moving ballad
or burning solo
I'm going to
move to
Omaha.
