Maybe you meant it
and maybe you didn’t,
but when you said,
with your hand pressed
against your glass,
‘It must be so sad,
not being able to enjoy
a drink with friends,
now that you’ve…’
What? Now that I’ve what?
Stopped killing myself?
The part of me that still fights
got in the way and choked me,
dying to say,
‘go fuck yourself,
in your snide leather jacket,
trying to look rebellious.’
But of course I said
nothing of the sort.
Instead, I fumbled around,
searching for words
that might explain what I felt,
but feelings are still so foreign
in this new confusion
and as I spoke the claptrap of the young,
it felt like I was hiding a fart.
Still, you’d already told me
you’re a county councillor
and after confiding in you
that I believe the state’s corrupt
from top to bottom,
I corrected myself,
once a few ears had gone to the toilet,
and replaced corrupt with complacent.
The heavens opened as a smile
twisted around your mouth.
You looked left and right
as if what you were about to say
was priceless.
‘We actually lost our star rating this year,
and I have to say
complacency certainly played a part.’
‘It doesn’t surprise me,’ I replied,
‘you’re all too busy
sniffing each other’s arses.’
But now it’s another day,
and I’ve spent a fabulous night
with poets and friends;
tears of joy, sighs of love
and good old stardust.
I’m ready for battle again
and you've allowed me to understand
the meaning of your observation.
I am an incurably
romantic alcoholic,
and I am happier now
than I’ve ever been.
Comments
Blessing | May 17, 2012 - 10:58
Good for you!!! Enjoyed this.
SundaysChild | May 17, 2012 - 20:56
'I am an incurably
romantic alcoholic'
Love this!
jolono | May 17, 2012 - 21:35
Wow, no more words needed!
blighters rock | May 18, 2012 - 00:14
Thanks for reading Blessing, Sundays and Jolono, and thanks to the cherrypickers
MistakenMagic | May 18, 2012 - 18:29
"The part of me that still fights
got in the way and choked me,
dying to say,
‘go fuck yourself,
in your snide leather jacket,
trying to look rebellious.’"
- love this stanza, Richard! So true, I probably have to hold up my own leather jacket and plead guilty - but us English Lit students are known for being pretentious ;-) Really enjoyed this and especially loved the ending!
Magic xxx
blighters rock | May 18, 2012 - 21:35
Thanks Magic. You're the right age for leather jackets and a bit of pretention. I was very pretentious in my day, although I thought I was Marlon Brando and Johnny Rotten rolled into one, of course.
Silver Spun Sand | May 20, 2012 - 12:33
More power to you, Richard;-)
Tina
blighters rock | May 20, 2012 - 20:14
Cheers Tina. It never suited me anyway but I had to see if I could master it, like hell.
Sooz006 | May 20, 2012 - 20:27
I am on day one of my latest attempt to quit smoking. I managed four months until three weeks ago when a weekend with Peej, and alcohol, set me back.
Sometimes getting together with friends just for a short time is enough to set the world right again.
And then it's back to the drudge of life.
And I will make the next ABCTales do.
Nice one. I like this.
scratch | June 11, 2012 - 19:23
Blighters first read of this for me! It's outstanding in its quality of device, technique and sheer poetic language (this last quality, for me is the overarchingly important one).
This piece has the last quality in abundance as others have already mentioned. I can't help feeling that I sometimes might be spreading myself a little bit thin by trying to 'spread the love' far and wide on the site with my comments. I think it is a vital process (commenting) but sometimes I miss gems like this by roaming a bit too far and wide.
blighters rock | June 11, 2012 - 20:58
Did you notice the reference to the poem you read at the evening?
You played a role in this poem so thanks, Scratch.
scratch | June 11, 2012 - 21:16
Do you know what Richard I certainly did notice and I got goose bumps. I didn't want to mention it in my comment for fear of sounding presumptive. I was thrilled to read it and was so chuffed that you saw fit to give a nod towards it given the level you work at.
Blighters, I don't know if you've been over to my place recently. If you have you will have seen (maybe even read) a new piece entitled " Barred Sine Die". I would greatly appreciate your opinion on it as it is a big deviation from the sort of stuff that I have been doing. Be warned though some (a lot) of the language is very bad, so if that puts you off I would completely understand ( or for that matter) if you don't want to express and opinion for any other reason mate that's cool too.
All the others have said it about this one Blighters, it's fabulous as usual.