poem of the day 12.22.09

where i’m sitting tonight

he says
but that was long ago
back when the people
in this bar
could talk about
books and music
and politics
and such
but now,
he says, looking around
the joint

there are two guys wrestling
by the poker machine
the bartender is doing shots
with his coke dealer
and another old drunk
is manhandling
a chinese woman
selling bootleg movies
telling her that black people
don’t have it
so bad

but now,
there’s no one in here
but fat drunks
and racists
and not one of them
could tell a synonym
from a hole in their
head.