Homage to H & the Speedway Diner

By Bernadette Mayer b. 1945 Bernadette Mayer

It’s alot like a cave full of pictures

& black & white checked flags

you may overdose on caffeine

it’s the closest restaurant to our house

maybe five miles, it’s very cheap

you can go there when you have almost no money

they let you use the telephone

i can get steak tartare there for $2.25

but i’ve never called it that

just raw hamburger with an egg yolk,

pickle relish & garlic powder plus

the celtic salt i bring along

the owner, h (after whom the h-burger is named)

is loquacious, surprising, has a santa claus belly & wears suspenders

there’s ashtrays everywhere & a great old pinball machine

it’s like east nassau but it’s in west lebanon i think

you can always talk about the weather & hunting

the clientele is open-minded as are the waitress & waiter

who kneels when he takes your order

during hunting season it opens at 4:30 a.m.

it’s for sale but that’s not quite serious

h’s wife thinks he spends too much time there (which he does)

so she started calling him by their dog’s name, peaches

h is a big fan of northern exposure, oh & i

forgot to mention the biscuits & sausage gravy

which are genuine, greyish & great. recently

h got a smoker & this year we’ll go to the new year’s

eve party & eat stuffed shrimp and/or lobster

"Homage to H & the Speedway Diner" by Bernadette Mayer, from Scarlet Tanager, copyright © 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1995 by Bernadette Mayer. Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Source: Scarlet Tanager (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2005)

Biography

An avant-garde writer associated with the New York School of poets, Bernadette Mayer was born in Brooklyn, New York, and has spent most of her life in New York City. Her collections of poetry include Midwinter Day (1982, 1999), A Bernadette Mayer Reader (1992), The Desire of Mothers to Please Others in Letters (1994), Another Smashed Pinecone (1998), and Poetry State Forest (2008). Known for her innovative use of language, . . .

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