Benny Was a Friend of Mine

The bar provides distraction

Shin provides the drinks

I trade haikus for lines

Bathroom too crowded to piss

So —

I find a space beneath the patio

Stay there for a smoke

Listen to the heels above,

Watch someone’s car getting stolen

And —

The world doesn’t turn here

It’s rocksteady ska and punk

It’s Garth Brooks and Willie

It’s David Byrne and Jerry

I’m not as young as I used to be

Yet not as old as these fuckers

Is this how a drinker is born?

Then —

Someone yells

Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts

So I stumble homeward

Before the mash begin

It is June and soft and humid

Tomorrow?

Well, I guess we’ll do it all again

Killing time, waiting for death

- Afton Light, 2021