Thursday, March 5, 2009

IN A BAR SOMEWHERE

WHAT LOOKS LIKE A MAN.
A bar somewhere.
Crowds of cigarettes shouting and laughing,
and booze burning brdges, building some others
or just licking the lips of an empty shoreline.
He, an uncanny Messiah, solitary,
sits in a glass on the edge of life;
listening to the sweet stench of voices
and the record that slips on the turntable
and the loud money waving goodbye
and the world playing for time
and the silence of his mind,
and the silence, where it crawls, in between the noise.
So he relaxes, deeper, protected
by the glass walls in his hand,
watching the sound of the evening
in its delirium pass by.
Through the glass, through the smoke,
through the talking air on its nightly rounds,
there, close to the fire, stands a man
smiling: The father, dead from yesterday,
grey teeth reflecting the flames' murmurs, appearing to speak.
The son hears nothing from behind his walls,
only sees the smiling man walk away
in the passage of flames - the moment fades.
A river takes to the roads where an age of ice
marked out the channels he knows too well:
at other times they are dry reaches
that his face calls maturity, creating
what looks like a man.
written by my late husband Alex circa 1978

4 comments:

  1. What a WRITER!!! WOW!!

    Have you thought of publishing his work?...

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  2. Yes, Gwen I intend to try, this blog is dedicated to Alex mainly, there are quite a few more poems on older posts. Thanks for you visit;

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  3. Great poem...really enjoyed it.

    Also enjoyed the photos below.

    I'm leaving town for about five days but hope I can find time to keep up at your blogs. I don't want to miss the next installment.

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  4. Sandy, I am going to miss your comments, are you going to continue posting? I hope you enjoy your break!

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