My poem, Oasis, was just published by the Green Silk Journal. Here is the poem:

Oasis

     by Steven Deutsch

Long before the specialty

coffee shops,

we congregated at Sam’s

corner candy store.

We brought our nickels

and dimes

for penny candy

and leafed through

the current Superman.

On days of good fortune

we’d sit at the counter

and sip our malteds—

nothing better.

Sam had two booths

with plasticized seats

for the serious customers.

You could get a burger,

dog, or bagel with a schmear.

And for the connoisseurs,

Sam would make you a grilled

cheese worthy of Woolworth’s.

It’s where dad

proposed to mom

and where they

stopped for Sunday coffee.

The shops disappeared

in the sixties.

I doubt if more than one

or two survive

in the whole Borough

of Brooklyn. I wish

I might find one—

have an egg cream

at the fountain

and leave with

a Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy.