(for hour 2—coffee & change prompt)

 

 

Coffee Changes Everything

 

After sixteen years of sobriety,

A waitress handed me decaf from the wrong pot

You can’t taste the difference in a greasy, road-side waffle joint

Forty miles later, possibilities and plans percolated in my brain

My foot pressed too close to the floor

Faced with the question, “Ma’am, do you know how fast you were going?”

I had to say “no,” to be honest

I stood jittery, stepped out of the car,

With one officer checking my license and registration

The other checking my eye movement

“That’s not nerves, sir, I need another hit.”