Red letters on a yellow sign

can be more than friendly,

as can outsized plastic menus

& brown imitation-leather

naugahyde the air is bright

with chatter & the clatter of

plates & silverware it’s

corporate-friendly &

focus-group tested, customer-

relations approved--utterly

lacking in charm but

happy in a standardized

American postsomething way.

The mind wants to feel that

experience is unique but

what if it isn’t? Denny’s is

the cheerful acceptance of

that fact. I’m working on

acceptance in a clean,

well-lighted place, sunlight is

streaming through the window

with the highway outside it

leading to other highways,

other Denny’s--Dear Reader,

everything here says, give

up on mimesis, on the spell of

the unique. Live under

the spell of seriality,

one thing after the other.