had
a tooth
missing in front,
and when she talked,

it
made
a whistle.

Peggy Whistle was 43,
loved Scotch,
and

worked nights
at the D&J Diner.

she
also loved
her little dog, Blue.

Blue
came to
work with her
and slept on a ratty
old pillow in the back,

lifting
his head up
every time the door
opened and the bell above it rang.

Peggy never whistled any tunes,

although
you can’t say
she didn’t know any.

there
was that one
her father taught her…

you know the one…

about
that road to
wherever the hell it went.

names didn’t matter much to Peg.

nothing
did, except

for Blue
and the sound of that bell,

and
a ring
that she wore

on
her hand
after work.

she
got it
from Tim

or
Romeo

or
Bill…

or
whatever the hell
was the name of that dear,

sweet man.

 

Image Credit:frankie cordoba

In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, John Yamrus has published 26 volumes of poetry, 2 novels, 3 volumes of non-fiction and a children’s book. He has also had more than 2,000 poems published in magazines and anthologies around the world. Selections of his work have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Japanese, Italian, Romanian, Albanian, Estonian and Bengali. His poetry is taught in numerous colleges and universities. His website is: http://www.johnyamrus.com