- They who take
vengeance on men
whosoever hath sworn
a false oath - The Illiad
If you’re early for your
pizza pick-up,
and there’s only one
seat at the bar
you might find yourself sitting
next to
three got-up women
trashing their exs
like they don’t care who
hears.
Like they don’t care
period.
And since you can't make
yourself invisible
you stare at the TV as
though you've got strong
money on the Czech at
Wimbledon
while the women keep
listing failings
you know you share with
the whole of men.
You. The man at a bar.
Now with a beer.
Fury One saying,
"He's find any excuse to go out."
Fury Two: "Yeah,
Trey would just sit at bars,
watching sports."
The three turn to you as one,
but you just keep
watching sports, drinking beer.
"And Sid,"
Fury Three says, "always had to flirt,
He always had to talk up
the waitress."
This reminds you to talk
up the waitress, check on
your pizza because you
would now like to leave.
"Almost done, sweetheart,”
she says. Sweetheart.
The women's eyes rolling
so hard they almost click,
before Fury One is
asking Fury Three that most
ancient question, the
poser that's bedeviled us
since infidelity first
plagued Olympus.
"Sid? Fury Three
answers in a too-loud voice.
"My Sid? God. He’d
fuck anything that moved.”
And this you hear with a
sip of beer halfway
through esophagus-land
which results in a noise
that perhaps sounds like
the start of a comment,
an observation by you re
the ways of men,
the furies turning as
one, eager for your thoughts,
but oh, The Gods are
supplying a blessed intervention,
the Fates are intervening on your behalf -
your pizza box is being
presented, opened.
And even though there's
a missing topping
you say,
"Perfect," you leave a big-tip twenty,
not so much for the
"Sweetheart" but just
so you can just slip off
the stool and leave,
so you can escape out
into that inverted bowl.
the same ancient-world,
wine-dark sky
under which so little
ever seems to change.
Join Athens Word of Mouth in welcoming Atlanta poet Rupert Fike to September's open mic!
Rupert Fike's second collection of poems, "Hello the House," has been named one of "Ten Books Each Georgian Should Read, 2018" by The Georgia Center for the Book. It also won the Haas Poetry Prize from Snake Nation Press. He was runner-up as Georgia Author of the Year after the publication of his first collection, "Lotus Buffet" (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2011). His stories and poems have appeared in The Southern Poetry Review, Scalawag Magazine, The Georgetown Review, A&U America's AIDS Magazine and many other journals. He has a poem inscribed in a downtown Atlanta plaza.
Sign-up for open mic reading will be tonight at the Globe, 7 pm, and readings begin upstairs at 8 pm.
Rupert Fike's second collection of poems, "Hello the House," has been named one of "Ten Books Each Georgian Should Read, 2018" by The Georgia Center for the Book. It also won the Haas Poetry Prize from Snake Nation Press. He was runner-up as Georgia Author of the Year after the publication of his first collection, "Lotus Buffet" (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2011). His stories and poems have appeared in The Southern Poetry Review, Scalawag Magazine, The Georgetown Review, A&U America's AIDS Magazine and many other journals. He has a poem inscribed in a downtown Atlanta plaza.
Sign-up for open mic reading will be tonight at the Globe, 7 pm, and readings begin upstairs at 8 pm.
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