The Real in Us Is Silent: Last night in first person

Axl Rose and JD Salinger

An orange red horse
and familiar mustard font
bled all over my shirt

"Is that Catcher in the Rye"

I nodded yes
He shifted his legs
Trying not to sink into the couch

He asked where I got it
I told him
And what was once admiration
was now condemnation

He sat up and preached at me
like fiery John the Baptist
"How many times have you even read it?" he accused

I lied but only a little
And he, like Caulfield, thought his gray hair fooled me

But I know I'm not a phony
He likes Axl Rose and I like JD Salinger

I would never ask him
how many times
he'd been to Paradise City


The Angel of Redlands

I sat in a too deep dining room chair
drinking a warm Corona
and asking myself
why bother?
I don't even like beer cold

Katy Perry was dancing
Like a fool
In front of what seemed to be
A heavily sedated crowd

Why don't they just broadcast the Ball Drop
and spare the "live" performances
of whoever was on the iTunes top 10
in September when they planned this debacle

"Hey guys, what-is-up?"
A not so eager voice
From a not so familiar face

I felt sorry she was dragged into this gathering of life long friends
"The plan is to get wasted and crash here"

My pity eased a bit

She is from Redlands right?
She works as a vet technician
I jokingly mistake it as a veterans technician

She casts the comment aside and makes a smart remark
like the joke was on me

I found it funnier now
than had she detected my sarcasm

She went on explaining her life

Uh huh, Uh huh, Uh huh
Uh huh, Uh huh, Uh huh...

Roughly translated
that was "I don't care"
six times in succession

She left us alone
and me to my cynical observation

Back to the brown couch where she made out like drunk people do
Unabashedly open and embarrassingly unaware
It looked to me like two sucker fish
With mouths agape smashing into one another


Before I left home

It was near 930
I lay in bed by the light of my desk lamp
Reading my new Bukowski book
and debating with myself what I should do for New Years

I think that was the most enjoyable part of the night.