Breathing cool

Prompt for What's going on?

Choose a head covering—a worn baseball cap, a silk scarf, a headband, a wool beanie pulled low, a wide-brimmed hat casting shadows, or any other piece that sits on the head

Breathing cool

A cosy shop window
in Akaroa,
a basket of hats.

There it was
a flat black cap,
warm,
already mine.

Not me, yet breathing cool
the kind of cool
of writers and poets,
journalists drinking,
conspiring for joy.
Air brimming with
paper and coffee.

Lines scribbled on napkins,
a hum of shared stories,
warmth found in words.

I place the cap on my head,
walk past the cafe
the door opens:

'Marja, join us.'