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Audio/Video chapbooks cc&d magazine Down in the Dirt magazine books

 

errol miller




THE TEA DANCE



Old malt whiskey for the masses
a cup of kindness, time passing quickly
in New York City's dimlit ballrooms
sweeping by the Ferryboat is bitter cold
against the twilight sky fat fish flap
away delirious, their eyes bulging with alarm
a man from the Highlands is reciting poetry
of suffering, having suffered, perhaps
he is part of all of us, he says
the pub is small, cramped, there is room
for only one, a great goddess
recently deserting the premises
the beer is dark and mellow
and the party isn't over
in the hotel dining room numbers are drawn
to decide who will die tomorrow
sieve-like with rain, these days fly
across the board like twine from balls
the patrons themselves drawn instinctively
to the window, the patrons have
slicked their hair down
the patrons have oiled dusty childhood roads
far away the word waits in charcoal gray
and blue suede shoes and Rock&Roll
the patrons are strange and sinister and silly
dressed in stenciled T-shirts and red headbands
then someone smiles and recalls Switzerland
captivated by pop fashion the patrons
move out: the last serious debs
they aren't all moonlight and roses
departing the Ritz for Long Island's
unattractive Eastern shore.



Scars Publications


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