he told me he’d fallen in love
with a Russian girl
who wore her black hair
in two shortish pigtails
and dressed in black
to seem invisible
while she took lessons
in a third language
she worked in a meat restaurant
to cover her tuition
evading the hands
of customers and coworkers
he dined there on all her nights
neither speaking
nor raising his eyes
from the gristle on his plate
her shadow multiplied
by the down-lights over the table
surrounding him
would have to be enough
