After the Follow-Up Cup of Coffee or Lunch

You realize that you may never see someone—a certain someone, say—again. Neither said anything about it, nor is moving to the other coast. But you don’t work at the same place, attend the same school, church, temple, or mosque; don’t live nearby. One of you lifts and bicycles indoors; the other jogs and walks and bikes outdoors: so chances of your managing to run into each other by sheer happenstance are low. So, like so many I have known, appreciated, maybe even more, another episode that fills the heart makes it feel hollower at the same time.

James B. Nicola

James B. Nicola is the author of eight collections of poetry, the latest three being Fires of Heaven, Turns & Twists, and Natural Tendencies. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice award. A graduate of Yale, he has received a Dana Literary Award, two Willow Review awards, Storyteller's People's Choice award, one Best of Net, one Rhysling, and eleven Pushcart nominations—for which he feels stunned and grateful.