Come In, We're Open

by Sara Ries

A collection of poems centered around a diner in an industrial neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, and vividly evoking the characters of its owners (the poet's parents) and the regulars--mostly blue-collar workers--whom it makes welcome. Winner of the 2009 Stevens Poetry Manuscript Competition

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be the most delightful book of poetry I have ever read. Each poem is a little story about working in Ries’ parents’ diner and the customers they served, as well as a few other eateries where Ries worked. We read about Country Joe, Onion Eddie, and Old Fat George. We learn why she has a scar on her right index finger and what it’s like to walk home alone at night. The language is as plain and comfortable as chicken fried steak or biscuits and gravy. From “A Love Poem, for Duke”: “Since your hands gripped a walker/someone would open the door./I’d throw the coffee on a burner,/let those splashes hiss, so I could say/with the door at my back Hi Sunshine.” It’s no wonder this won the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Stevens Manuscript Prize back in 2009. It’s a winner.