Leaning back in my chair to give the crowd a scan
Outside the bar window up pulls a van
He came in with guns drawn, hands in the air!
Wallets and money liberated told not to stare
Gone now, reach into my sock for a 20 to pay for another dram

Fluorescent lights and lonely eyes
this bar is full of smoke and the smell of stale cigarettes
there's another fool getting into a fight
spilled beer leads to a broken face
and through a cloud of smoke
you walk in like you're looking for me
in the corner booth
you're drawing hearts on the palm of my hands
connecting straight to my heart
it feels all too familiar and I get up to leave
you reach over and whisper,
"we ain't no good for each other but we ain't made for no one else"
and I'm walking away
with you right behind me
I smile because you know I say with every sway
let's do
what lovers do
we'll hold each other
in parentheses,
your curves
holding onto mine
in perfect alignment
even if
it's only pretend.

You kind of remind me of her, when you laugh,
and your brown crow's feet
lines smile, and I can't help but wonder
what you're doing here
at a place like this
dark and empty and stained
with beer so I'll order you another drink
from the bartender and pay in cash
and conversate and stare
(and by the way, that's a cute hat)
because you remind me
so much of her.

the girl in the white dress dances
her hair swings to the music
her eyes are shut
shes looking at the roof as if shes outside
the sway of her body is calm, relaxed
like shes dreaming
like shes floating
shes carefree
the song changes
her knees collapse
she looks to the floor
puts her hands on the ground
pushing herself up and walks to the bar

I was sitting alone in the bar watching people getting wasted when she came and sat right next to me. I didn't notice her much until she asked me, "Can I buy you a drink?"
I looked at her and smiled, "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing, just finding a perfect way to finish my celebrations ."

And that was it. A drink led to a couple of more till we were no different than the people in the bar.

Around 3 at night, I woke up from what seemed like a dream and found her sitting in front of the mirror. I watched her as she brushed her hair and colored her lips red again.
"Where are you going?", I asked her as she got up to leave. My question made her stop in the door.
She didn't turn back, just whispered,
"Where all the dead people go."

the perimeter remains
a puzzle
without its centerpiece.
as at rest
as an
open beat.
a fist full of meat.
a trophy
of
atrophy.

Someone stole the last piece of my turkey sandwich.
I bet the ******* put some pepper on it.
I hope it was pepper from that
***** *** pepper-shaker that is no longer see-through.
That ******* left me with one poker-chip pickle slice and
Those pieces of potato chips that you
Have to spear with a fingertip to eat.
That *******!
I am sure he put mustard on that last piece of turkey sandwich;
In that delicate delicatessen squiggly pattern that is all in the wrist.
-And, speaking of wrist, that ******* forged my signature perfectly.
He even put another Lone Star bottle on my tab then
Neatly arranged the bottle caps next to four toothpicks.
That suave *******.
To honor him, when I get home
I am going to smoke his ****,
**** his girlfriend and take his ****.

You are refreshing
like the breeze on a hot day.

It is not in that you make me forget
the rough environment
and offer a moment of calm.

And not in the motion
that relieves the senses
through gust.

But rather, cleansing
in that you remind me of
juxtapositions in the world:

the arid and cool;
the stale and fleeting.

Just like the wind, you are brevity
that clearly shows
why contrasts highlight
and you are the
pleasant other underscored.