Judy Blue Eyes

Crosby, Stills and Nash plays.
The Frog sits at the bar,
scratches his brow
and orders a roast beef sandwich:
lettuce and tomato, horseradish.

A brown girl seated beneath
a painting of Venice
is molding what seems to be
a spire, or a cone,
out of clay.

"It's a full moon tonight,
so you never know,"
the cook yells across
to a waiter, and sets a plate
in front of the Frog,
head turned sideways.

She's wearing a red sundress
with white polka dots.
Legs crossed,
black shoe on top leg dances.

She pushes her finger
to the bottom of her sculpture
and spirals it up to the point.
Excess clay on her finger
gets wiped on the table's edge.

She stands up quickly,
laughter in her eyes.

The Frog finishes his sandwich
and throws a handful of quarters
on the bar,
takes one more sip
and hops out the door.

He stretches his arm back on the seat
in order to reverse.
He thinks about her brown thighs
as the car backs out.

When he looks up,
there she is
walking up the sidewalk
with her dress and black hair fluttering;

the clay spiral
on top of her head.