Loud Talkers (Poem I Wrote #2)

Loud Talkers 

Your thunderous voice

Booms across the cafeteria

Creating almost visible waves

Of pure noise

I cringe

And hunch in my seat

“AND THEN I WAS LIKE, NO, DUDE, THANK YOU!”

Squinting my eyes,

I peer through my lashes

You walk towards my table.

I bury my gaze in my lukewarm food.

“HE SAID THAT HE JUST HAD TO GIVE ME THE PART!”

I’m suddenly very interested

In the clumpy rice

Strewn across my tray.

Please don’t come over here,

I beg quietly,

Whispering into my salad.

“HEY, EMMA, WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

I flush red,

Plastering on a smile.

My temples pound

With the sheer volume of your speech.

Go away

I think.

“Nothing much. You?”

I say quietly

In sharp contrast to your loudness.

“I WAS JUST TELLING THE GUYS ABOUT A NEW PART I GOT, WANNA HEAR?!”

I heard it already

When you told them

Across the room

If I was writing your voice

It would be in bold, capital letters

With exclamation marks

Peppering the page

Whenever you speak.

“Sure,”

I sigh,

Resigned.

Image © Kim Chau 2009