Starbucks
Starbucks
That girl who keeps the local Starbucks running.
I’m talking the one between Interstate 80
And Grand Island, Nebraska, the one in the Safeway,
The one on the community college campus.
Under the corporate scrim, this girl hones
Her unique genius, having learned over the years
A better way to make that, a better place to store this.
Without her the company would be doomed.
No one in the C-suite knows her name.
She’s one of thousands who refuse to play
Their vetted mixes with kickbacks on the streams.
She plays what she wants to play.
They pay her next to nothing. But the way
She winks as she sets the pumpkin spice latte
On the counter destroys the day of an analyst
Named Mike on the outskirts of Salt Lake City
Who, over-caffeinated and distracted by beauty,
Makes an error that costs men he’ll never meet
Millions. He’s always in a hurry, but he never uses
The drive-through. It would mean not seeing her.