The Coffeeshop's Last Week

The manager says they can’t make money.
Business is slow and the construction killed
what was left. He scrapes the dregs of tea leaves
from the bottom of the jar and make me a cup.

The machines tear up the sidewalk outside.
The back door is the only way in. Here
at this table, you can watch the yellow
machines work. It’s a good view.

You watch the sidewalk and the street
disintegrate under the machines.
They eat at it like bacteria, and you watch
pleasantly from inside the dying body.