it pays to drink at
home
a jukebox full of my hard-earned dollars
playing james brown and the temptations
and it’s still not good enough for this guy
he has to have his cell phone blasting
some club song to impress his friends
when the bartender comes over to see what’s up
he says, whatever, man, i’m puetro rican
by way of an excuse
it’s been a long hard summer that won’t end
i’ll be honest i’ve been looking
to hurt someone since june
and this guy sort of fits the bill
so i glare at him until he notices
hoping he wants to go the rounds
instead he shuts the phone off and shrugs to his buddies
he starts talking about how he was a marine
looking at me while he tells everyone around him
how tough you got to be to get through basic
then he and his buddies have another margarita
he complains to the bartender how last time
he used too much lime juice
then they start quoting classic films
and giggling like little girls
as smokey robinson struggles over the din
and the bartender says to me
hey, man, you ever chase a vodka shot
with a glass of pickled beet juice?
pouring me something ice white and blood red
into two perfect little glasses
meant to take it all away
No comments:
Post a Comment