How to #2

Read How to #1 first

Midway, and as night fell deeper, there was another one of them there where I was. I was still struggling with the collection, and alternately interspersing rest periods for my brain with a chapter or two of the novel I brought along. I was slowly sipping the only substance I could take: coffee. Every now and then I would also survey the scene in my turf. I noticed this guy with his friends. He was wearing a basketball jersey. Same get up that every one else was wearing in their table. He must have come from a ball game, and shooting balls my way; eyeballs that is. He looks a bit sweaty from their game, and uhmmm... he looks familiar. I had to look twice and stifle the sudden dribble my heart lurched into when I looked at his face... Nah! Can't be... Here's poem number 2.

How to Lose Interest in a Guy in Basketball Jersey
Eying You at a Coffee Shop
By Luis Batchoy

Sit still, or better yet, in the most
Awkward, contorted and uncomfortable
Angle you can manage
Without losing sight of him
From your peripheral vision.
Double up the puffs you take
From the cigarette you let
dangle from the corner of your mouth.
Every third puff, look up
From the book your reading and quit
Staring intently at your pen
As if, willing it to life and write
A poem about his flirtatious glances
And winks, as if, willing you to
Cross the borders of repression
And the eventual risk of being
Brushed aside. Return
The challenge and chuckle
At his silly yet endearing way
Of looking away when you catch him
Stare at, no, gawk at you.
Return to the open book in your lap
And read intently, as if somewhere in the page
You'd find his name and number.
Then stare back at him hoping
That being the athlete that he is
He would realize that dribblings
Don't count
It's the baskets that do.
After all, you are not the player here
He is. Now grab your mug and drink
One long, slow, gulp.
Take time to savor your coffee
As you savor and bask in his stares
And be aware that your wall of resistance
Is slowly liquefying and now
Drips from the corners of your mouth
Where your cigarette used to be.
Now stare at him blankly
Taking your shot for the basket
From way, way beyond
The rainbow territory.
If only for that promise in his handsome face
To rescue you from the solace of this
Solitary table alone-liness, but then again,
Put down your mug, slowly
And promise that the next time he smiles at you
You'd volley back with one of your own.
The most saccharine ones you reserved.
Take one long drag at your cigarette
And flick the ashes off the same way
You'd flick at the thought of him
And how he looks like your ex. The worst one.
And with that, let all hell freeze over.
Return to the story in your book.
Your coffee, your unwritten poem,
Your cigarette, and the deeply satisfying
Solace of your solitary table
In your most gorgeous
Alone-liness.

Photo Credits:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=128616328
http://www.photoshoptalent.com/photoshop-picture/49920a5980dc2/Coffee-or-Tea-.html