75 Word Poem

Salade du Jour

Delicate Emissions
The Open Kimono
Published in
Jan 6, 2022

--

A pink pegboard with the words DON’T PANIC is plastic, all caps letters in the middle.
Photo by Tonik on Unsplash

Maris inhaled. She stood in line to order her lunch at the new cafe across from her office, rumored to have an excellent salade nicoise.

For two weeks, Maris had practiced pronouncing the words to avoid feeling foolish when ordering. “Suh-laad nee-swaaz,” she mouthed, repeatedly.

Now it was her turn to order. The cafe host asked, “Would you like to try our salade du jour, the nicoise?”

Maris sank, thinking of her effort.

“Yes, please.”

This was inspired by the very real phenomenon of ordering anxiety. Here’s to all of us who experience it, may we always feel edified in our efforts!

--

--

Delicate Emissions
The Open Kimono

home of poetry/essays/fiction by dusti rwf & dafna hagans-slezak; Disability in the Margins; & delicate emissions, quarterly diy poetry zine ed. by dusti rwf.