Old men in a trattoria.
They have sat here
since the Etruscans were shoved
from the flying buttress
of Orvieto,
since fly-blown prints were tacked
to trattoria walls.
Since the very first dubbed episode
of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Only you draw their eyes
from the TV where two
bouncing fat people explode
through a trampoline.
The old men laugh.
We order a bottle
of Orvieto Classico Superiore.
A nearby table fills with young people
and you are no longer the only woman
in the trattoria.
On America’s Funniest Home Videos
a girl blows out candles.
Her false eyelashes catch fire.
The gnocchi with butter and sage is good.
We compliment the unsmiling waiter.
He fills our glasses.
The young people at the next table
order standards—lamb, tomato,
mozzarella. One of the young men smiles,
raises his thumb. You cannot go wrong
with classics like that.
On crazed terrazzo we cool
cracked feet
that have walked
the Orvitagnese tufa.
On America’s Funniest Home Videos
a woman dancing has an embarrassing
clothing malfunction.
We drink more wine. We
order tiramisu.
You cannot go wrong
with classics like that.
The waiter, warming,
refills our glasses. One of the old men
raises his glass. We raise our glasses
to the old men. The old men toast us.
The young people at the next table
toast us and the old men. We all
toast each other. Then we toast our hosts.
Everyone in the world is beautiful.
On America’s Funniest Home Videos
a man leaps a balance beam
and misses the mat.
Anthony Lynch is a writer, editor and publisher. His work has appeared in various journals and anthologies. His books are a short-story collection, Redfin, and a poetry collection, Night Train.
