An Abandoned Restaurant Full of Moths
by Justin Karcher
During the show’s last number, me and Carly
notice a moth flying towards us
from about five rows up
we’re ready to swat at it with our rolled-up programs
and then suddenly, it’s in front of our faces
and we start swatting
we probably look like idiots
but moths will softly and erratically fly around your face
it’s harmless, but annoying
it’s a lot like love
the beginnings of it
most of the time, love doesn’t hit you heavy
like a skyscraper crawling on all fours
and knocking you down
or a spiritual tornado
throwing you through a stained-glass window
it’s subtle, almost inconsequential at first
which is probably the point of First Date
how you want a love connection to be an immediate eruption
but it’s more like a moth always in your field of vision
maybe it slowly sneaks into your heart
maybe it sings a song that lights up your dark
maybe life is just one long first date
where you’re always trying to figure out who you are
trying to figure out if the people in your life
are real or if they’re simply figments of your imagination
a bouquet of iceberging brain matter that sinks your cardiac cruise ship
always wondering if the songs you sing
come from your lips or have the scars from old kisses
finally taken over, sprouting symphonies where they don’t belong
and all you can do is bob your head and hope for a response
from someone who’s interested in you, a moth-eaten map to show you the way
over mountains of old clothes, through abandoned restaurants
where lovesick waiters are stuck in an endless loop
serving wine to ghosts and reading the specials over and over again
places where your exes materialize out of thin air
just to talk about how much you’ve screwed up
maybe your parents too, grandparents from beyond the grave
and you can’t even finish your dinner without thinking about
how much of a disappointment you are
maybe love happens
when one disappointed person meets another disappointed person
anyway, after the show, in the parking lot
all the cars burst into moths
and all I can do is cheer them on
because it’s summer
and we should all be trying to find our flames