Analysis Of Linda Hull's Poem 'Night Waitress'

The Lonely Gal
Poverty is often taxing to one’s life in multiple ways, some of which include mind taxation, stress taxation, emotional taxation and of course money taxation. Mother Theresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty”. How would you find time to look for the one that would make you feel special and wanted, while having to live in situation which doesn’t forgive free time? “Night Waitress” by Linda Hull is poem that looks at daily life of a waitress who struggles to answer just that question.
The narrator of the poem is a night waitress, which most likely means she is struggling financially. She has a Slavic heritage, which is revealed to us through this line, “It’s my mother’s Slavic

face.” (Hull 83, line 4) In her opinion, the narrator thinks she is not a beautiful woman; she tells us that her “face has character, not beauty” (Hull 83, line 3) Slavic woman have strong, apparent facial structures. This is most likely what the narrator is talking about when she says “character.” Her mother was a very hard working woman, she washed floors kneeling down, and she was also a religious woman. The narrator herself is also hard working. She would lay out the tableware and assist the men who came in at that hour. But with all the hard work the narrator did, she was also looking for love.
“There's the man who leans over the jukebox nightly pressing the combinations of numbers. I would not stop him if he touched me, but it's only songs of risky love he leans into” (Hull 83, line 13-17) this is one of the few lines that show the kind of love that the narrator’s looking for, risky love. In the next few lines, the narrator gets even more figuratively explicit with her desires, “I want a song that rolls through the night like a big Cadillac past factories to the refineries squatting on the bay, round and shiny as the coffee urn warming my palm” (Hull 83, line 24-27) The narrator wants to be swept off her feet. She is waiting for her prince charming, the perfect guy, but she does not think she will ever have it. Referring back to line 3 and 4 of the poem, “My poem has character, not beauty”; the narrator has been a hardworking person and with all that hard work, she believes that she has lost the beauty that she once had, all she sees are now just facial features. “They do not see me” (Hull 83, line 12) One of the reasons that the men at the diner might not notice her is because she has decided to put no more effort in being noticed. She already has the misconception that she is not pretty anymore engraved in her, so why should she put the effort where there is nothing to see, is what her subconscious believes, but she still hopes that someone will notice her.
When she thinks of her room, she sees “a calm arrival each book and lamp in its place” (Hull 83, line 31) her life has become sort of repetitive in way.

A calm arrival could point to the emptiness of her room, emptiness in terms of view or vibe. Everything in its place could also point to a boring life, there’s nothing new or changed in her room just like in her life. Her room is a pretty accurate depiction of her current situation. “The calendar on my wall predicts no disaster only another white square waiting to be filled like the desire that fills jail cells.” (Hull 83, 32-36) This line is another pointer to the desire of something new in her life. She wants to fill in her empty calendar, she wants change and nothing seems to be allowing it. The desire that fills jail is also a good line. The most common misconception is that all people in jail just want freedom but that is not accurate. Most people in jail just want something to do, they have already accepted the situation they are in, but are tired of doing the same thing every day just like she is. As you read deeper in the poem, she says, “When I walk out of here in the morning my mouth is bitter with sleeplessness. Men surge to the factories and I am too tired.” (Hull 83, line 39-42) The shift the waitress holds is one where her nights are spent awake, and her days are spent asleep. The time that she could have interacting with men is hindered highly by her current situation. She finishes the poem with “I’m fading in the morning’s insinuations collecting in the crevices of buildings in the wrinkles, in every fault of this frail machine”. (Hull 84, line 45-49) At the end, the narrator decides to just accept her current situation; she knows that her mornings will be spent resting and she believes that she doesn’t have the beauty or energy to find the love she

desires
At the end of the day, everyone is trying to find someone to be their significant other. While some people are able to find what they are looking for, others are not. Lynda Hull creates a perfect representation of someone whose situation does not allow for spare to look for that special someone. This poem ultimately opens up the eyes of the general pollution, as to what is the cause for most people being single after a certain age. Though some people do end up finding that special someone, others subsequently give up, like the night waitress.