A Helping Of Dylan

Long time since 1977

but this morn I walked into Hotel

California inhabiting my local cafe

where the coffee’s alright but

the music can be all wrong.

Luckily, resident barista, Hannah,

is a woman one can reason with,

despite her taste in classic hits.

Knows how I like my coffee,

knows when to change a playlist,

which is why this moulting pigeon

defaults to such an unpretentious,

uncute but underrated cafe.

Knowing what pain this regular can be,

she exchanged flightless Eagles for Dylan

and – free of those rifts – the fog lifts.

First song is pure, pre-hippie folk and

although it provides no answers

at least you are comforted that those

questions never did have any.

There’s a newspaper that tells you

nothing new, nothing that changes

your vague plan but with decent coffee,

Bob and a merciful waitress you can

take off your hat, maybe order toast

and accept that you may as well settle

because this is the only place

you were ever heading.

Allan Lake