Before Sarah Connor Fights the Terminator

she is a waitress having a bad day
at work. Late for her shift,
she wears a wrinkled pink uniform
and a matching apron with twisted straps.
Her feathered hair is held back
a pair of thin barrettes.
She mixes up orders, forgets
a customer’s request.
Knocking over a glass of water,
she apologizes, out of breath.
A little boy leaves her a tip in the form
of an ice cream scoop in her uniform pocket.
In the break room, she catches the news
that someone who shares her name
is dead. It’s a joke with her fellow
waitresses, but she sighs, not finding
it funny. At home, all that is
waiting for her is a pet iguana,
a roommate, and an answering machine message
of a cancelled date. When she leaves
the apartment to catch a movie alone,
she has no idea about what she is going to face.

Karen J. Weyant has published poems in Chautauqua, Crab Orchard Review, Fourth River, Lake Effect, New Plains Review, Rattle, Slipstream and Whiskey Island. She is the author of Avoiding the Rapture, published by Riot in Your Throat Press. She lives, reads and writes in northern Pennsylvania.