Wednesday, September 3, 2014

poem of the day 09.03.14


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

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