Magic

This is for my friend Blair who believes in magic, but magic, as magic must be defined, is a fish scale sitting on a fingertip after a summer rain, full of light, rainbows, slippery and as insubstantial to hold as a promise or a caress.
So what is magic after all, but a promise of loneliness? And what is loneliness but the place between touching another human being in a real way. She’s heard the lines. We’ve all heard the lines.
My friend, she reminds me of a poem I once wrote. Is that so bad to remind someone of a poem? I am the bride of Jesus says the Heart.
But that is not the poem nor is this the time, because we’re talking about fish scales and rainbows and those impossible places to climb. Like the heart.
Two girls sit, waiting for the boys they are with to say it’s all right to open up, lay down and whisper their darkest hopes.
Being in a bar can make one terribly jaded. True love and being alive are like being afraid of the dark.
No, I can’t tell you what I meant by that.

Some Waiter at Last Call in Some Bar on a Tuesday

Hey there, Mr. Greenjeans,
That a mighty fine set of hair on those legs of yours.
Too bad you missed that upturned face
Gazing at the snow as it fell with angel’s breath
On her neck.
…if only she…
Damn back, musta carried eight refills out to that
Smelly old man
Only tipped five percent
And that stench
Old cigar and fresh death
…if only she…
Get your two-for-one Metamucil this week only
Dr. Scholl’s is having a sale on inserts too
God, when the sun sets on your hair like that I know
I don’t ever need those man-made drugs
Why not pour me one more, today is my day off
And I only got two doubles this week
Poetry and love in bed by nine baby
So maybe it’s hard to get with the cool program
Talk about saving
Earth and whales
Did’ja know Walt Disney ran those damn lemmings off a cliff
Only one thing round here dumb enough to run off a cliff
On its’ own is…
Hey, you heard that one before didn’t ya
Man walks into a bar-breaks his nose
So she drapes on a stool and drinks to forget
Those endless ten twelve hour days
One after another
Where there’s always a stool
Why go there man
Why play with the ethereal beauty of the muses
Take her away for a little bit
But not too far
Because it is
The drug the drug the drug
And com'in down
Well, be kind
Somewhere
We’re trapped on a stool
Ain’t smart
She’s smart
She’s going where it’s real
The hard curve of the inner thigh
Hellooo pitcher special
Not too expensive
All yours for the low, loww price of a dim gray world
Ain’t nothing more beautiful than the truth
Problem is truth sucks
In a commonplace sort of way
Gotta look hard
For those flashes of life that mean something
Outside of last call and a shitty tip
Not in some lace and heroin dream
Hard cold reflection in your glass
Mouthful of teeth
The way she laughs
Her smoky voice filling you up
Right here
Did you see that
Do it again
Feel her soak into a one-of-a-kind moment
That everyperson gives
Cause the beauty is that we’re none too unique
Yet it’s your glass
Your joke
Till tomorrow night
Except, damn, gotta pull that double

So, this is that story, except I left out the part about the girl. You know, the one with the crooked smile, terrible breath and eating the worm out of the tequila on Ash Wednesday. Oh, and that whole being King of the Kitchen thing.