poem of the day 07.08.14

nihil humanum a me alienum puto

this is a disney bar now

or it looks like one out of a disney movie

there are more televisions in the joint

then there are people

the people look like cartoons at last

blonde and tanned and without an ounce of fat

i don’t recognize the beers on tap

and the ones that i do are too rich for my blood

i can’t believe that i used to drink here

back when they broke the windows and the toilet never worked

and fights broke out as a matter of course on friday night

now there are fake fireplaces in the wall

and a beer garden out back

there is soccer playing on each and every television

and a digital jukebox playing pop on low

one of the blondes asks me what team i’m rooting for

and i respond, whatever teams ends this game the quickest

that ends the conversation

the chinese still come in here

hocking their bootleg dvds of the worst america

has to offer the world of cinematic art

back then the old guys used to pause from their drinks

to scan the movies and make conversation with the bootleggers

now no one says a thing to them

they watch soccer and have the bartender

pour them another expensive beer while they check their cell phones

more blonde and tan people shout from outside

because the beer garden has a television too

when the chinese bootlegger leaves

the three blondes drinking three red drinks with citrus fruit

all look at each other like they smelled a fart

the one says to the other two

oh my god, that’s like the third time

they’ve been in here today

like, get a life, one of the other ones says

they go back to watching the soccer match

almost two hours of dutch and costa rican men

running up and down the pitch and there’s still no score

they all look the same anyway, one of the blondes says

but who? i wonder are they talking about

the chinese

the sweating soccer players

themselves

or the rest of us.