This is a two part work originally  submitted seperately,  it was always my intention to do so. It is a section of a larger work, and works previously submitted and still under revision.

 

A meeting in Algiers 

I.

He checked his watch
and stired his coffee.
Looking about, he retrieved 
a post-card from an inside pocket
ignoring the picture. 
He clicked his pen-
He wrote:

''...All life should be free...''

Then

''...as it often comes at a price...' '

He coughed as he smoked.
He could hear
the call to prayer.
He picked up the post-card
and clicked the pen,
placing them both 
in a pocket.

The news-paper lay folded.
Opening it to an inside page
he studied the reports
of last-nights bombing.

He drank coffee and smoked.
He was always drinking coffee;
he didn't smoke.
He looked at people
from behind the
darkest of glasses.

When seeking a way out
he would don those glasses.
He folded the newspaper

He decided to pause awhile
as the sun had crept from
behind the minaret
 ''Don't you worry 'bout a thing''
came on the cafe's radio,
he smiled.

He finished the coffee and
picked up the cigarettes.
Leaving a gratuity in the saucer.
The news-paper was abandoned.

As he walked away,
Patti Smith's cover 
of 'Young Americans'
came on.
He resisted a smile.

Avoiding the many
cyclists and laden carts-
he crossed the street.
He assumed she had
been detained.

Another smile would
attract attention.
The smoking was
a disguise.

II.

She watched him waiting.
Lief had chosen the venue:

a bar in full glare of the sun,
that served ice with everything.
Sun-shine through 
windows and open door-ways.
Sun-baked seats out-side.

There would be hours yet of
sun coming through 
those glass cataracts,
hours of heat to bake
tables and shirted backs,
hours of brightness
justifying the use of
shaded eyes
and shop fronts.

There were many more people
across the street;
owners of panting dogs,
owners of frowns,
owners of bars and cafes, 
who threw water
onto the pavement, 
cooling the owners of drinks
and the owners of
heated conversations.

But on this side of the street,
few customers bared
the heat, nor tolerated
the blaze from stone
and bleached white
canvas window shades.
Few would drink
their warming drinks.
Lief chose this venue
for all of those reasons.

III.

Having reached the other
side of the road
he pondered on the fact that
he had never yet seen
a cat in Algiers.