her son By Stephen House

there is a woman who is sometimes at my local café sitting outside with a glass of white wine and that’s not too unusual but i always notice the wine as it’s more of a morning coffee spot than a drinking place / the other day she sat at the outdoor table next to mine with her glass of wine and lit a cigarette and asked if the smoke bothered me and i politely said it did and if she could change seats in regard to the breeze direction then i would not get the full force of it in my face / she laughed and moved and started talking about christmas and then stopped and asked me to stay while she got another wine / and i thought it slightly odd as i don’t really know her but i told myself that maybe she needed to talk or share something / she asked if i wanted a wine and i declined as i was happy with my long black coffee / in a few minutes she came back with her wine and sat and looked into my eyes and slowly and quietly told me that eleven years ago her son had killed himself on christmas day and that for her christmas was a difficult and upsetting time / i gave my condolences and she talked for a while about the pain of losing her son and i listened and offered heartfelt words for her story genuinely moved me / and she finished her wine and lit another cigarette and thanked me for listening / and i said i would listen anytime if i was here and she needed to talk about her son / she smiled and said she appreciated that and touched my arm and left / i finished my coffee and left the café also    

Stephen House has won many awards and nominations as a poet, playwright, and actor. He’s had 20 plays produced with many published by Australian Plays Transform. He’s received several international literature residencies from The Australia Council for the Arts, and an Asialink India literature residency. He’s had two chapbooks published by ICOE Press Australia: ‘real and unreal’ poetry and ‘The Ajoona Guest House’ monologue. His poetry is published often. His next book drops soon. He performs his acclaimed monologues widely. Stephen’s play, ‘Johnny Chico’ ran in Spain for 4 years.