left, right, left, right
up, down, under, over
arms flailing, spit sprinkling
my mate dances in a drunken frenzy

he's only had
a shirley temple
and a paper tab
offered to us by his date
that ditched us
the moment it started raining

my tab was melted on my hand
by the downpour
his by his grenadine
one of us was prepared for what will happen
and it was not me

he lost his temp job
a few days ago
he's been bored out of his mind
by the papers and the bills
and the shouting and complaining
i complained too
why'd he get a high
and not me?

humors filled my nose
as it poured outside
(we did not think of umbrellas)
the dirt-grass smell of rain
pounding the pavement
the kerosene-floral scent of a smirnoff blotch
on my sweatshirt

the music was in it's most jubilant
and so was my friend
i had a foot down in the mud
thanks to the *****
it wasn't joy but dread
that woke me
and my senses were in it's most twitchy
drum, snare, keys
beguiling sounds of a happy warehouse
driving the engine of a man
dancing
with red stains on his pants
stepping on his dropped handkerchief
perturbating a worried wino
with both adrenaline
and a headache

and i 𝘸𝘢𝘴 perturbated
mind you
the idiot was half at tears an hour prior
out in a spate
of hardship
and water
chick left him
job left him
bet his house burned down
too
we'd be wringing out our brains
if it'd happened to us
all at once

and he's at full speed
dancing
happy
maybe

maybe the lemonade was that good
or he's being tickled
by leprechauns
maybe its not that bad
and he's just happy
maybe it is that bad
and that full mouth smile
is as painful as i imagine

or maybe it's the leprechauns

yes

probably the leprechauns