Terminal Luncheonette in Willow Grove, PA / Poem

Photo courtesy of Diner Hunter.

Going out for breakfast is definitely a blast. A few years ago you could find me at:

- Daddypops in Hatboro
- Bonnet Lane in Abington
- Lochel's in Hatboro
- Terminal Luncheonette in Willow Grove

People are unusually friendly at these places.

Just retrieved this poem about the Terminal Luncheonette.

TERMINAL LUNCHEONETTE

They’ve all gone home
Doug to his boarding house
in red-brick Crestmont
Rick parking van in
pebbled drive
stowing walker
against stairwell
pouting lower lip
a trophy over
pretzeled polio legs

Where are Christos and Maria
owners of this corner diner
glowing silver in the night sky?
Their dream
a ringing cash register
overflowing
Far from Greece
their childhood home,
where Homer dwelt
and spoke his epics
round the campfire

At the luncheonette
smoke and stories
flutter at the counter
thick coffee cups
warming our hands
as the cream
goes in with a
splash!

Rita’s been sick
but returns to her booth
paperback
in hand
while her BLT
cools.

Don’t kid yourself.
This is Chris’s family:
Don a widower with
whistling false teeth and
cowboy boots
hoping to drive a lady home
from Michaels tonight

Whisperin’ Doug’s been cutting back
on his Salems
I can see him lying on a too-small-bed
at Beauty Daniels'
boarding house
watching Jeopardy
dozing at commercials
just one more pack
and I’ll quit.

And there’s Roger
on the far side
a man in direct communication
with Solzhenitsyn
or is it Pasternak
I snap his photo
he smiles
teeth cracked
like a Grecian urn

Before I got married,
Chris says, looking over at Maria
women would say
Your eyes tell a story.

What story is that?
I say shoving his meatloaf
into my mouth
Don’t know, he laughs,
Look into my eyes.

At the Terminal Luncheonette
our morning family
turns over each one’s dreams
a prism held to the sun
aiming for the answer:

Shall I pursue my dream
or
shall I travel onward
my urn full of dreams.