Sunday, September 28, 2008

Twofer

I've been absent from Mona's most excellent poetry Fridays for a spell, so here's one that combines two recent words: "library" and "hear."



3 a.m. drunk
stumbling home from the midtown Blarney Stone
tiptoeing past the stone lions
guarding the 42nd street library
I heard one of them whisper -hey you, kid-
-yeah- I answered and he growled
-you overromanticize this drinking you know
all that hemmingway and kerouac
all that faulkner and joyce
you oughtta get yourself some religion
a litle flannery
a little melville
hawthorne, emerson, mccarthy
those guys'd do you some good-
he stopped talking, threw me a marbled stare
challenging me
-they were just drunk on religion- I slurred
and the lion stared me down one last time before purring
-everyboby's drunk on something-
he tossed his mane victoriously
before retreating back to stony silence
and I tottered to the subway
pinballing down the long dark stairs
to fall onto a bench
await the lumbering Brooklyn bound G train
and begin the long ride home

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool. I used to know the names of the two leonine gatekeepers at the NY Public Library but I fear the drinking has erased them from my already feeble memory.

Unknown said...

Patience and Fortitude.

So which one talked to you?

Anonymous said...

Nancy, I take my hat off to you. *doffing my Kangol*

Noel said...

Very cool man. I love how you don't romanticize the authors, leave them stylistically lowercase--also the subject matter is awesome. I completely dig your style, and as I've mentioned before you need to gather them together for a chapbook.

Anonymous said...

I think Fortitude would have been more likely to speak out. At least, that was always my experience when passing by...

Mother of Invention said...

Love this one! Nice sound when read aloud...and I love the image of you, "pinballing down the long dark stairs"!!

Yes, everyone's drunk on something...

Clowncar said...

Irr and D'Ancy, I always thought they were called Mr. and Mrs. Astor, to suck up to the rich people who gave them money. Which always p1ssed me off because, being lions and all, they're both male. Glad to learn otherwise.

Actonbell, thanks for stopping by. I like my taste in books too! But I like your towel sculptures better. Cool set of blogs you've got there.

I'm no poet, Noel, and I think my poems are rarely worthy of publication, but thank you for the kind words.

Nice to know someone else had conversations with those lions, Daisy. Perhaps our meandering paths crossed once or twice in that big beautiful jewel of a city.

Moi, I'm glad you picked out that line. I didn't think it was a very good poem, but I did kinda like that line.

Mona Buonanotte said...

Ah, this sounds like my college days.... Awesome writing!

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

LOVE, love, love that list of writers... and Viaggiatore and I both love the Lion...

Excellent.

It IS religion, to some... and one could be drunk on anything. I think being drunk on laughter is my favorite.


Scarlett & Viaggiatore

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