PERSONAL POEM
by W.P. Jake (Cancel)
It's hard to get a seat on the E
at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday
Iron and Wine bangs out a mellow
drumbeat. Jeordie has that diaper bag
Trimmed in red except Hers isn't a
Knock off, full price and I'm always
surviving on little to nothing
Times Square Theatre District
I get home to the boxes
stacked. He is moving soon I know
I shouldn't but
one won't hurt back out I go
Overcast when I look
Up Lexie and I know
it's rarely ever just one.
Andy though he doesn't care
about much never forgets to dress my
glass of Jameson with three limes
He shrugs with a smirk walking away
Gams is here Hey do you
Wanna buy some watches he jokes
I got watches for sale
It's Tuesday Tony and Mike are due
We're regulars but
Blarney's drew a better
crowd than this when I was eighteen
Marlboro Reds in between Long Island Iced Teas
Adam calls me Chicka he never could speak
Spanish he rolls a Top cigarette
asks for the number of that guy that I lived with
Two years in Jersey selling pot
losing time. He's always popping X and sniffing Coke
I am twenty six now but I remember K holes
Sitting at the same bar, does Adam
check up on me?
Why did you let Joseph join the army?
he loved to ask me Well I don't know
Adam dies a few years later
We're not speaking when I find out
I call his cellphone and it rings
You've reached Adam Pomposello
Mad-A I heard a terrible rumor that
you've died
Call me back so that we can share a
laugh
The next day his godmother calls he is
gone, two months now
I wish I could tell him why I
drove Joseph away.
but I still don't know
Andy refills my glass
the tourists flow in
Doug and I chat politely
about how wasted Creepy Jim was last week
we call Jim, Gams because he likes legs
I notice Doug has these gorgeous blue eyes so I
tell him. It's the kind of thing Adam
would have encouraged
2005, Briarwood to Midtown East
like true city kids
60 dollars on a Yellow cab, drinking on the street
forgetting that sealed pack of Newport 100s Adam
bought me after too much Dominican whisky
Coronas from a corner store
dropping a 30 dollar bottle of
Jack Daniel's in a theater bathroom stall
Some movies are just
Awful smells like Henny You're a
fool
it's whisky Not cognac
It's Monday
getting late and we've had a few
At 12am Andy's shift is over
he sits on the barstool beside me
Sips a Rolling Rock and talks
music. He's the kind of guy that reminds
Me why I dated musicians I'll come to
your show to show noncommittal support
He laughs and laugh lines are beautiful for the
first time I think about staying
Instead Lexie and I pay our tab
Ladies...Andy,
he hugs me I care a little he whispers I know
I can get into some kind of
trouble if I stay so
I go
Walking home these two avenues
A handful of bars up west 47th street so I don't
stagger alone at 3am Hell's Kitchen has
Changed. I used to buy bananas
now I buy Gatorade One more smoke before I
walk up to number 3E
I check on Jeordie, she is sound asleep so I
crawl onto my bed "You're a Little B"
"You're a Queen B"
Photo Credit: Jorge Buenaventena
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