Waffles and a Blueberry Muffin
by Matt Randall

She sniffs, turns her head away.
He stares, mouth filled with unsaid words
aching to fill the coffee-scented silence.

She picks at her uneaten muffin, raspberry
red nails plucking wrinkled blueberries
out of the too-hard crust. She doesn’t eat them.

He can only stare at his plate,
at the syrup-flooded remains of his waffles,
and think about the night before

when they weren’t separated by heavy plates and cold silverware.
Side-by-side, elbows almost touching,
they talked long after the ice cubes melted.

Now, the morning after, she looks anywhere but at him,
and he looks only at his waffles and thinks about
how good they sounded a few hours ago.

Matt Randall has written everything from technical documents and real estate articles to science-fiction and sestinas. He is also the co-founder of PegLeg Publishing, a small independent publishing company in Oklahoma City, and co-editor if GlassFire Magazine. When he’s not writing and editing, Matt enjoys reading, spending time at IHOP, and collecting gnomes.