disappearing act
disappearing act
by yossarian
you’ve gotta get to the liquor store
about noon
at ten
when they open
the hopeless are lined up
three deep
waiting to get in
and at midnight
well
we all know about liquor stores
at the last minute
but at noon
you can slip in
and out
without anyone
you don’t want to see you
seeing you
if you choose
to hit a bar
you drop in about two thirty
after the lunch crowd
dissipates
and well before the lawyers
and accountants
begin their carved in stone
happy hour
rituals
you find a home
well off
the beaten path
and keep it secret
to all but a few
no surprises
means no unpleasant
surprises
when the telephone rings
you don’t answer
all the corporate
mega super department
stores
are open round the clock
these days
but watch out shopping
at three in the morning
that’s the hour
the isolationists prefer
quarter to five
is much better
you can have the whole joint
to yourself
sooner or later
you run out of smokes
that’s when you go to bed
until time to hit
the liquor shop
again
you leave the radio on
pull the blinds
and unplug the alarm
and for god’s sake
when the telephone rings
you don’t answer
2 Comments »
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the phone.
the phone is ringing!
I SAID THE PHONE IS RINGING!!!!
I got so into the liquor and drinking part of the poem at beginning that i had to remind myself of title ‘Disapearing Act’ towards middle…though end puts one back at liquor store as center of universe. Reads like a true Bukowski, King of Poets!
I get the impression the perspective put forth in poem is way of life as an escapist more than just periodic impulse of someone needing a break from the rigmarole.
I think everyone has felt to some degree a wanderlust to experience the world as a solitary explorer without the onlooking herd…maybe that’s more what the poem is about than ‘getting away from the grind’.
Whatever the case, I appreciated the attention to detail and craft here…nice work! You don’t have to answer this comment, it’d be like the telephone ringing.