by Julia Griffin

“Storm Strands Dozens of Guests at English Pub”
—The Weather Channel

A circumstance of literary form:
Guests, by default, but strangers, as it seems,
Are stranded all together by a storm.
The setting is a pub. What cozy memes
Hover around! The guests are named and classed:
Avuncular professors, comic cooks,
Curt officers, smooth vicars (with a past?),
Haughty grande dames and blondes with pin-up looks
Regard each other warily, converse
In character, accept the landlord’s brew,
Steaming with coziness. “It could be worse,”
They sigh. This soon turns out to be untrue.
Is anyone in charge? Can no one spot
Elimination coming? What’s the plot?