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      September 27, 2018Sonnet for the Night ShiftKim Harvey

      Image: “Waiting” by Alexis Rhone Fancher. “Sonnet for the Night Shift” was written by Kim Harvey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2018, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
      For the barbacks and the line cooks, this one’s
      for you, for the jostle and bustle of
      busboys hustling tips, for the aprons
      and grease, for the fluorescent light above,
       
      for how her hair falls at the nape of her
      neck, for the way memory works, something
      I chase, something I can’t control, slow burn
      of swoon-jazz on the jukebox, for the sting
       
      of tequila, for the draft beer on tap,
      for the ones who come back night after night,
      for yesterday’s special wrapped up as scraps
      and for those who pass through just for a bite
       
      or some human contact, for busting ass
      and for refilling every empty glass.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the editor, Timothy Green

      “Many excellent poems saw something sad or sinister in Alexis Rhone Fancher’s photograph, but Kim Harvey managed to flip the script entirely. I can’t remember the last time I read a good old fashioned praise poem. And there’s so much in this world worthy of praise that slips by unnoticed. I appreciated being reminded of that—and of all the night shifts I’ve worked over the years, and the strange intermingling of duty and possibility that comes to life in those hours.”

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