The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Kathi Wolfe

CAFÉ ALGIERS:
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 1975

We were frightened kites
flying into pockets of pain.

Kent State and Watergate
were our Rorschach ink blots.

Bored monsters fought wars.
Rogues roamed the earth.

The bad guys, cheerful
cheaters, won the game.

Quarrels, indiscretions,
vexations, like industrious

rabbits, multiplied, set up
house, behind closed doors.

But in Harvard Square, playing
chess near the bearded man

reciting “to be or not to be,”
all things on heaven and earth

became cappuccino. Our talisman
against the impending storm.

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